The Liber Severi
Liber I - Severus Snape's True Love
Copyright (c) 2001 by Cassandra Houston
Illustrations by Gabriel (http://www.angelfire.com/art/angelgabriel/)
Author's Notes:
Most of the characters within belong to JK Rowling. Amethyst Rayne Black Snape, Lapis Meaker and some others belong to me, Cassandra Houston. I will not accept money for this book, nor any others made with the wonderful characters JK Rowling has created. I am only putting on paper my interpretation and theory of what the Rowling characters may have been like before the Harry Potter series and what they may be like after. I am not trying to insult or steal from Rowling. I am only having fun here.
If you like what you read (and I certainly hope you do), please feel free to forward a copy of this ebook along to friends, family and anyone else who may enjoy its contents.
I must take the time here to thank Gabriel. Gabriel! You are a saint and I am forever in your debt!
I now give you Severus Snape's True Love, the first in the Liber Severi series.
Cassandra Houston
Chapter Four: Eighteen Years Later
Severus Snape arrived at the Leaky Caldron and spotted Remus Lupin immediately. He was standing near the counter talking to that idiot proprietor, what was his name? Tom. Severus approached them. Lupin turned and absolutely beamed at Severus. "Severus!" he chimed. "I am so glad you decided to come. Lets sit over here." He motioned into a corner. "Tom, drinks, please."
Severus followed Lupin to the table, where they remained embroiled in conversation about the weather until Tom had delivered their drinks and gone away. Severus pushed his drink aside and asked, "What is it, Lupin? This had better be good."
Lupin took a small sip from his glass. "Yes, Severus, this is good." He said, still smiling. "I got an owl yesterday. As soon as I read the note I sent you the owl that brings you here this afternoon." He reached into his robes and removed a folded piece of parchment. He held it out to Severus. "It's from Amethyst." He said.
Severus' jaw dropped. "You're lying! Amethyst Black is dead." he accused. "That is not a subject you want to joke about with me, Lupin!"
"Severus, we are years from school and my practical joke days." Lupin said. "I am not joking. Those days may come again, now that Lord Voldemort has fallen at last and the Death Eaters are disbanded, but today I am not joking." And he laid the letter on the table and slid it in front of Severus. "Today, I am, again, the middleman."
Severus looked at the letter longingly, but did not reach for it. Lupin said, "Severus, read it. Don't be afraid. But do not drop it in shock, either. The message was sent to me magically encrypted. It can be read from her hand to mine and from my hand to yours. Once that letter leaves your hand, it will destroy itself."
Severus looked at Lupin sharply. Remus Lupin had always been able to smell fear. Probably the werewolf in him. He took the note and unfolded it. It read:
Dear Remus,
It was a shock hearing from you after all these years. I have missed Britain terribly, but remained here in the US because I had no reason or desire to return to the UK and live without my love. And now you tell me that my brother told me a lie 18 years ago and took advantage of my grief to get me out of the country.
Yes, you heard correctly, I am a teacher. I have been teaching at the Salem Institute for eighteen years now. Defense Against The Dark Arts, ironically. Here in the US there is little fear of Voldemort. The Secretary of Magic has never considered him a threat, for some unknown reason. Americans are very good at turning a blind eye. The Muggles cannot get enough of Britain news, but the Wizards show no interest whatsoever in news from Britain. You cannot even get a Daily Prophet in this country. Not that I ever tried. But they welcomed me, although they have always thought I may have been on the run from the trouble in Britain. They gave me the Dark Arts job because I knew not only the Defense parts but I actually knew Dark Arts and they reasoned that it would only improve my teaching to know both sides of the subject. I am, of course, forbidden to teach Dark Arts, and I never have. Not out of any sense of moral obligation, mind, but because they were taught me by Severus and I have avoided the subject of Severus Snape for 18 years.
Which, of course, brings me to the subject of the very owl you have sent me - Severus Snape. You tell me he is alive. Not dead. Not killed. You tell me he is responsible for the death of Peter Pettigrew, who framed my brother and sent him to Azkaban. That he has cleared my brothers' name. That he has done great things to see to the fall of Lord Voldemort as a double agent and has never yet been discovered as one. And you tell me that he remembers me. That he, too was lied to by my brother. That we both thought the other dead. That you suspect he still loves me as much as I love him. Still.
Remus, my anger is rising again, and this will become a Howler if I do not stop soon. I will treat you as a liar until I find out if you are telling me the truth or not. You see, I have become as bitter as you say Severus has become. The ironies, eh? I will do as you ask. If you are lying I do not think the pain would be much greater than before.
Until July 2nd, then, Amethyst
Severus read the letter twice. He looked at Lupin. "This is genuine?" he asked, his voice shaking.
Lupin replied with a soft voice. "Yes, Severus. It is genuine. I can prove everything."
Severus read the letter again. "July second. That was yesterday."
Lupin finished his drink and stood. "Follow me, Severus."
Severus dropped the note, which flared brightly and disappeared in a puff of blue smoke and followed Lupin up three flights of stairs to the suites. There were only two suites at the Leaky Caldron. Lupin went to the door marked "2" and opened it.
Severus followed Lupin into a large room richly furnished. Large windows made the room as light as outside. A woman stood before one of these large windows, watching Diagon Alley below her. Severus saw rich purple robes and a long, thick black braid, which came almost to the floor. Interwoven into this braid was a very familiar ribbon. He stepped tentatively forward, past Lupin, his hand outstretched as if to touch the long braid.
Amethyst Rayne Black turned around and spotted Severus. She took a sharp intake of breath and slowly began walking towards him. She, too, stretched her hand in front of her. Their fingertips touched.
Still arms lengths away from each other, Amethyst and Severus simply stood and stared at each other for several minutes, not speaking. Amethyst was the first to speak.
"Severus." She whispered.
"Amethyst." Severus whispered back. "I cannot believe -" he stopped speaking.
Amethyst entwined her fingers with Severus and brought her other hand up to clasp his hand in both of hers. She stepped forward as he did and they were soon very close together.
Amethyst now looked up at Severus and touched his face. "My dream." She whispered again, and closed her eyes against her tears. "So long I dreamed you were alive and I would hold you again."
Severus leaned forward and tenderly kissed her eyelids. "We are together again. At last." He whispered, as he wrapped his arms around her.
They remained that way for hours, just holding each other as if afraid to let go, and neither of them noticed when Remus Lupin left them alone.
Three days later, Remus Lupin went to answer a knock on his door. He did not often get visitors, but today he was expecting a houseful.
He opened the door and smiled. Standing before him were Amethyst and Severus.
"Remus." Amethyst said, her voice alight with happiness.
"Come in! Please!" Lupin opened the door for them and they entered. He sat them down and quickly conjured tea. "Your early."
"I owe you an apology." She said softly.
Lupin smiled broadly. "No you do not, Amethyst." He said, simply. "I am only sorry I could not have done something sooner." And he truly meant it.
Amethyst took Lupins' hand. "You did not know. My brother was blinded by hatred when it came to Severus. It never occurred to me that he would stoop so low as to tell us each the other was dead in his attempt to keep us apart."
"He's still blinded." Severus said. He drank some tea and looked at Lupin. He was about to speak again, when there was another knock at the door. Amethyst looked sharply at Lupin.
"Don't worry. He'll promise to be on his best behavior." Lupin said standing.
He did not hear Amethyst's mumbles as he went to answer the door. He looked at his old friend Sirius Black. He stepped out of his door, closing it behind him.
"Hello Sirius." Lupin said. "I thought you were going to come alone?" he said looking at the young man and woman beside him.
Harry Potter and Hermione Granger both raised their eyebrows. Sirius looked puzzled. "They came over this morning as I was on my way out. They haven't seen you in a while and decided to tag along. I didn't know you expected me to be alone."
"Well," Lupin said more to himself than anyone. "Maybe it will go more smoothly this way. With witnesses."
"Remus, what are you talking about. Why are we standing out here?" Sirius said.
"Because I wanted a word before you went in. I have some guests and I don't want trouble, so you'd better promise me Sirius that you will be civil." Lupin said, with a deadly serious look at Sirius.
Sirius nodded but Lupin looked unsure for a moment, then opened the door and let them into his house.
Harry saw Severus Snape and a witch he did not know standing near the fireplace. Before he could wonder what in the world Professor Snape was doing in Lupins house, the witch pulled out her wand, pointed it in their direction and hissed softly "Everbero".
Sirius was thrown off his feet and thrown across the room. He hit the wall with a thud and slid to the floor.
Severus' eyebrows rose and a slight grin touched his lips. Lupin yelled "Amethyst!" while grabbing Harry's wand arm. He looked sideways at Hermione and said, "Don't do anything." Harry and Hermione relaxed slightly, looking at all the people in the room.
Sirius was getting slowly to his feet. The witch was looking at Sirius with great loathing.
"Hello, Amethyst." He grunted, still bent over in pain. "I guess I deserved that."
The witch still held her wand on Sirius. "You deserve the Cruciatus curse." She
said in a deadly soft voice.
Harry felt himself tense. He had no idea what was going on. He was relieved when the woman responded to Lupin's "Put the wand away."
The woman lowered her wand and said. "Forgive me, Remus."
"Not at all." Lupin said. "He did deserve it."
"Ummmm," Harry said nervously. "What's going on here?"
Lupin gave him half a grin. "I would like you to meet Amethyst Black." he waved an arm at the witch.
Amethyst nodded to Harry and Hermione.
"Black?" Harry said, looking at where his godfather had just appeared beside him.
"My sister." Sirius grunted, feeling his ribs and wincing. He was glaring, not at his sister, but at Severus.
"Your what?" Harry gasped. "I didn't know you had a sister." Said Hermione.
"Yes, well," Lupin said. "If you'll hand me your wands, more will be revealed, I'm sure."
Harry gasped as Sirius, Severus and Amethyst all handed Lupin their wands. Feeling a bit numb, Harry and Hermione did the same. Lupin pocketed all five wands.
"Please sit down, Sirius. Harry." Lupin motioned to the couch. "Tea?"
Harry had never in his life been in such an odd situation. He, Sirius and Hermione sat on the couch while Severus and Amethyst remained standing by the fireplace. Lupin stood in between the two groups like some weird referee.
"Well," said Lupin after about five minutes of complete silence. "Since no one else is going to speak, I will tell the story to the best of my ability. It will likely be much longer with you two here, just so you know." He looked at Harry, who had been watching murderous stares exchanged between the others in the room.
"You know already that Severus and Sirius hate each other." He said. "What you don't know is exactly why."
Hermione couldn't help but interrupt. "It's because of that stupid prank, isn't it Professor, I mean, Remus. With the Whomping Willow."
Severus was scowling. "It went further back than that, Miss Granger." He hissed.
"Severus." Amethyst said soothingly, apparently back in control of herself. She looked at Severus with more tenderness than Harry or Hermione had ever seen anyone show to him.
She stepped forward. "I will tell the story, Remus. I know more of it, anyway." She said. She took a deep breath and sighed. "I am two years younger than my brother, here." She began. "We were close about a million years ago. By the time we were both at Hogwarts, we were growing further apart. Sirius had his friends, and you most likely know who they were. And, of course, they had their enemies." She glanced back at Severus and said. "Severus Snape was probably their worst enemy back at school. By the time they were in their Fifth year and I was in my Third you would have thought there was nothing to be done to make them hate each other more." She sighed. "I managed to change all that."
"Potions class was a living nightmare for me. I just could not figure it out. I was blowing up a caldron a week it seemed. I came close to having to repeat the Third year because of my Potions grade." She looked at her brother with a barely softening expression. "Sirius spoke to our father who spoke to the headmaster of the school. Albus Dumbledore assigned me a tutor. The smartest student in the school when it came to potions. Professor McGonagall was not pleased, but Dumbledore had spoken. Severus Snape became my Potions tutor."
"He was tall and thin and my brother and his friends had told me what a greasy, oily hairy slime ball he was." She looked at Harry and Hermione who were both grinning. They couldn't help themselves, even with Severus in the room. But he didn't look angry. He seemed to be remembering this part of the story himself, and the two new graduates of Hogwarts were amazed to see that he did not seem angry, but pensive. "I see the description stuck." She said softly. Harry and Hermione both recovered themselves.
"I suppose it could not be called untrue, even so long ago." She chuckled. "But I was terrified of him based upon rumor alone. But it turned out that Severus Snape did not live up to his reputation with me. He was an excellent tutor and he helped me get over my phobia of potions. We talked a lot. About potions and eventually about ourselves. Our lives were very similar, as it turned out. But we'd agreed to keep the tutoring sessions as secret as we could. No one ever knew he tutored me back in my Fourth year except for us and McGonagall and Dumbledore. Including my brother."
Sirius looked at her sister. "So that's how you met." He said, looking directly at Severus. "OK, that one I'll actually apologise for. I thought you'd sought her out to get closer to us."
Snape sneered, then nodded. "Accepted." He said, quickly. It looked like the word may have hurt him.
"Well, it's a start anyway." Lupin said, rolling his eyes.
"I was madly in love with him before my Third year was over." Amethyst caught the looks on Harry's and Hermione's faces and laughed out loud. "It seems impossible to you, I know, but it is true."
"It was the prank my brother played on Severus that tipped our hand to him." She said, her voice turning icy. "I was so worried that Severus would get hurt, I threw caution to the winds and asked my brother what would happen to him if he tried to follow Remus. James ran immediately to stop Severus. My brother, however, dragged me off to watch." She turned her eyes to her brother, who had his face in his hands. "He was actually disappointed that Severus wasn't killed. He was yelling at me to not see him anymore. Didn't I know what he was like? Didn't I know?" She stopped and took a calming breath. "Of course I knew. I knew my brother was dead wrong. I knew my brother had deliberately tried to get the man I loved killed. We fought that night, my brother and I. He made me choose between him and Severus. And I choose Severus."
Hermione gasped. "Why?" she asked, breathlessly.
"I hear the Severus Snape you knew at Hogwarts was an angry and bitter man, Hermione." Amethyst said. Hermione nodded, not looking at Snape. "I am here today to tell you why he was that way." She looked over her shoulder. "Unless you would like to tell them, Severus."
Severus just shook his head, no. "You're doing just fine."
Amethyst smiled and looked back at the former Hogwarts students. "Lets see. Yes, I choose my lover over my brother." She smiled at Hermione's look. "Sirius stopped speaking to me and he and Severus seemed to have developed a hatred of each other that would last forever. Severus was doing everything he could think of to get Sirius and his friends expelled and they came back at him with their own. They had to invent detentions for them all." She chuckled. "But basically they all left Hogwarts without getting each other expelled."
"Dumbledore hired Severus to teach Potions that very summer, and so he became my teacher. He was the only teacher, before or since, to be hired as a teacher right out of finishing the school. I cannot tell you how odd it was to have him as my teacher. I had to put a Memory charm on my own brother when he threatened to tell Dumbledore about us. That's why he had no idea that Severus was working at Hogwarts when Remus told him." She said. "You probably also know that that summer was the summer that Severus joined the Death Eaters." Seeing Harry and Hermione's stunned expressions, she bit her lip. "Or maybe you don't."
"Severus was convinced that I would be in horrible danger if the Death Eaters ever found out about me, so he taught me everything he knew about the Dark Arts." She said. "Turned out it was a good thing, too, because it was the summer he left Hogwarts that Dumbledore asked Severus to become a double agent."
"At great personal risk." Harry said. He looked at Snape. "She was the 'great personal risk', wasn't she?"
Severus nodded. "Just being a Death Eater put Amethyst in danger. Being a double agent put her in double danger. If they were to find out that I was a spy for Dumbledore they would have killed her in the worse way possible and forced me to watch before they killed me."
"We finally come to the point we have all been waiting for." Amethyst said, clapping her hands. "And the place where the story begins to fragment. I can only tell you my side of this."
"Shortly before Voldemort killed your parents." She said quietly, glancing at Harry, but her eyes were on Sirius. "I was taken by my brother to see a man. This man told me that he was an Auror and that Severus was dead. I was so grief stricken that I didn't even think about it. My kind-hearted brother paid for me to go away. I couldn't bear staying here. There were memories everywhere. I went to the United States. You may not know that while the Muggles in the United States cannot get enough information about Britain, American wizards couldn't care less about wizards in Britain. You can't even get a Daily Prophet in the United States. So I never knew what happened. I have lived the years since then as a bitter old maid. No friends. No one to care about and no one who cared about me."
Hermione looked at Sirius openmouthed. Harry asked Snape. "And you, Profes-, I mean, Sev, I mean. What about you?"
Severus smiled an angry smile and spoke with his jaw tightly clenched. "I received a visit from Sirius the morning after your parents died, Potter. He ranted and raved at me about how the Death Eaters had found out that his sister was my lover and how because she was his sister, they went to his home and killed her, in an attempt to convince him to tell them where your parents were hidden." His voice rose slightly. "He told me there wasn't even a body and asked me if I was happy about what my fellow Death Eaters had done to his sister. What Sirius did not know, was that all of this had apparently transpired at the very same time I was in front of Dumbledore, telling him that Voldemort knew where the Potters were and when he was likely to attack. That is why I spent so much time and energy trying to keep your arse out of trouble, Potter. Not out of some favour to James, although that played a part, but because you were the price I paid. My penance. Somehow keeping you alive helped keep Amethyst alive for me. I often thought of her when I saw you. The pain of it somehow comforted me." He took a deep breath and looked about to say more, but changed his mind. He clamped his hands very tightly in front of him and seemed about to break them he was squeezing so hard.
Harry felt his throat go tight. Even though he and Snape had managed to avoid as much open hostility towards each other after his Fourth year, Snape was still vicious when it came to him. Now Harry understood why. Lupin cleared his throat. "And so they each thought the other dead and lived on with that pain for all these years." He said sadly. "Severus went back to teaching at Hogwarts but was bitter. Very bitter. And each year it got worse. And in the US, the same thing was happening to Amethyst." He shook his head. Hermione was crying openly. "I found out about a month ago that Amethyst was still alive. One of wizards aiding us in the fights with Voldemort was from America and he was telling me about his Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher after I complimented him on the perfect Stunning Spell he used. You remember the one, Severus? The one that allowed you to get close enough to Peter to snap his neck." Severus nodded. "It's funny. If it weren't for Severus, Sirius, you would still be an outlaw. Hearing their story now, I'm very surprised he did it."
Snape snarled. "Do you honestly believe I did it for him, Lupin?" His eyes bored into Sirius'. "I did it because of Amethyst. I knew she would not want him living the life of an outlaw forever. Call it more penance, if you must."
He clapped his hands. "Anyway, he asked me if I might know this teacher, as she was British. 'Her name is Amethyst Black', he said. I thought I had heard him wrong. I told him she was dead and he told me I was mad. He told me how to get in touch and I sent her an owl."
He looked at Severus and Amethyst and said, "They were reunited three days ago."
Sirius moaned and buried his face in his hands again. Hermione glared at him. "I'm surprised at you, Sirius Black." She snapped. "How could you do such a thing?"
Sirius looked up at Hermione. "You know Snape." He growled. "You tell me."
Hermione kept shaking her head in disbelief. Harry's mind was reeling. It was an incredible story he'd just heard.
Sirius suddenly stood. "Why am I here again, Remus?" He snapped. "To get yet another lecture on how I shouldn't hate Severus Snape for shagging my sister? He turned to his sister. "After what that Slytherin did to our father! How could you is what I would like to know!"
Amethyst walked over to her brother and slapped him hard across the face. Hermione screamed and covered her mouth. Amethyst raised her hand to slap him again and Severus quickly stepped up and grabbed her arm. "Don't." he said, softly. Harry was amazed at the look in Severus' eyes when he looked at Amethyst. Love and concern. The whole thing was surreal.
"How dare you even think of comparing Severus with our mother!" she hissed. She relaxed and Snape released her arm. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed once. She then took another deep breath. She lowered her hands and looked at her brother again. She shook her head and moved around him, Harry and Hermione towards the door. Severus was now facing Sirius.
"You just don't get it, do you?" He said. And he followed Amethyst to the door.
"Remus." Snape called, and Lupin went to the door, where the three of them huddled and spoke in low voices for a moment. All Harry could make out was Amethyst suddenly saying "Absolutely not!" After another moment, she nodded and Lupin hugged her and, to Harry's surprise, shook Severus' hand. He returned their wands to them. And then they were gone.
Lupin returned to his sitting room. He patted Hermione on the shoulder. She was
still shaking and white. He cleared his throat.
"We have been invited to a wedding." He said. Sirius turned to face him. "All of us." He emphasized.
"Bloody hell." Sirius said, shaking his head. "I don't believe her." He walked to the door. "Remus, my wand, please."
Lupin returned his wand to him and Sirius left without another word.
Lupin sighed and turned to Harry and Hermione. He returned their wands to them, saying. "I am sorry you had to see that." He said softly.
"Remus," Hermione said, her voice shaking.
"Hermione," Lupin said, gently. "Sirius has always been angry about his mother. You see, she killed herself when Amethyst was only five years old or so. She doesn't remember her very well. Their father was a Gryffindor. He found out somehow, no one knows how. They weren't at Hogwarts together, you see. He was ten years older than his wife."
"She was a Slytherin." Harry said, quietly.
"Right in one, Harry." Lupin said, sadly. "Right in one."
Hogsmeade was always beautiful. In a private room in the Three Broomsticks at nine o'clock on the morning of August the first, eight people gathered for the very informal wedding of Amethyst Black to Severus Snape. The people in attendance were Albus Dumbledore, who performed the ceremony, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Minerva McGonagall. Both Amethyst and Severus wanted a small ceremony.
The wedding went of without a hitch. It also went off without Sirius Black.
After the wedding, the small party in the room for drinks. Ron, having gotten himself a bit tipsy, asked Severus if he had used the Imperius curse to get Amethyst to marry him. Hermione hit him hard in the arm and Ron went red. Severus raised his eyebrows and said, silky as always. "I am a Potions Master, Mister Weasley. You figure it out." And everyone laughed, including Severus and
Ron.
As the party broke up, late in the evening, Hermione pulled Ron aside and whispered in his ear. His eyes widened as she spoke to him. Suddenly he said "What the hell." loud enough for everyone to hear. Hermione led him back over to the group and poked Ron in the ribs to make him speak.
Ron turned red again. "Professor Snape," he said. "Hermione and I are getting married ourselves in two weeks." He glanced at Hermione, who nodded, turning slightly pink. "There's room for two more." He said in a rush.
Severus actually smiled. "I thank you for that gracious invitation which I have no doubt Miss Granger has put you up to." He said softly. "But we must decline. This ceremony was small for two reasons, Weasley. The first being that neither my new wife nor myself has ever been popular." He paused, even though he knew no one there could argue the fact. "The second being that I cannot afford to be seen in the company of Harry Potter at this juncture. It would be too dangerous for both of us."
The only people in attendance who had arrived on foot were McGonagall and Dumbledore. They had arrived early and secured the room, putting charms and spells on the place that no one would know what the room was being used for. The rest, to include the bride and groom, had apparated. Just because Voldemort had finally been defeated did not mean it was completely safe. In the last couple of years, Harry, Ron and Hermione had come to understand Severus a bit more, but they could not appear to like him anymore than he could pretend to like them, although feelings all around had, in reality, changed. And so, in two weeks time, Ron and Hermione were married in a huge ceremony, but without the presence of Severus Snape and his wife.
Liber I - Severus Snape's True Love
Copyright (c) 2001 by Cassandra Houston
Illustrations by Gabriel (http://www.angelfire.com/art/angelgabriel/)
Author's Notes:
Most of the characters within belong to JK Rowling. Amethyst Rayne Black Snape, Lapis Meaker and some others belong to me, Cassandra Houston. I will not accept money for this book, nor any others made with the wonderful characters JK Rowling has created. I am only putting on paper my interpretation and theory of what the Rowling characters may have been like before the Harry Potter series and what they may be like after. I am not trying to insult or steal from Rowling. I am only having fun here.
If you like what you read (and I certainly hope you do), please feel free to forward a copy of this ebook along to friends, family and anyone else who may enjoy its contents.
I must take the time here to thank Gabriel. Gabriel! You are a saint and I am forever in your debt!
I now give you Severus Snape's True Love, the first in the Liber Severi series.
Cassandra Houston
Chapter Four: Eighteen Years Later
Severus Snape arrived at the Leaky Caldron and spotted Remus Lupin immediately. He was standing near the counter talking to that idiot proprietor, what was his name? Tom. Severus approached them. Lupin turned and absolutely beamed at Severus. "Severus!" he chimed. "I am so glad you decided to come. Lets sit over here." He motioned into a corner. "Tom, drinks, please."
Severus followed Lupin to the table, where they remained embroiled in conversation about the weather until Tom had delivered their drinks and gone away. Severus pushed his drink aside and asked, "What is it, Lupin? This had better be good."
Lupin took a small sip from his glass. "Yes, Severus, this is good." He said, still smiling. "I got an owl yesterday. As soon as I read the note I sent you the owl that brings you here this afternoon." He reached into his robes and removed a folded piece of parchment. He held it out to Severus. "It's from Amethyst." He said.
Severus' jaw dropped. "You're lying! Amethyst Black is dead." he accused. "That is not a subject you want to joke about with me, Lupin!"
"Severus, we are years from school and my practical joke days." Lupin said. "I am not joking. Those days may come again, now that Lord Voldemort has fallen at last and the Death Eaters are disbanded, but today I am not joking." And he laid the letter on the table and slid it in front of Severus. "Today, I am, again, the middleman."
Severus looked at the letter longingly, but did not reach for it. Lupin said, "Severus, read it. Don't be afraid. But do not drop it in shock, either. The message was sent to me magically encrypted. It can be read from her hand to mine and from my hand to yours. Once that letter leaves your hand, it will destroy itself."
Severus looked at Lupin sharply. Remus Lupin had always been able to smell fear. Probably the werewolf in him. He took the note and unfolded it. It read:
Dear Remus,
It was a shock hearing from you after all these years. I have missed Britain terribly, but remained here in the US because I had no reason or desire to return to the UK and live without my love. And now you tell me that my brother told me a lie 18 years ago and took advantage of my grief to get me out of the country.
Yes, you heard correctly, I am a teacher. I have been teaching at the Salem Institute for eighteen years now. Defense Against The Dark Arts, ironically. Here in the US there is little fear of Voldemort. The Secretary of Magic has never considered him a threat, for some unknown reason. Americans are very good at turning a blind eye. The Muggles cannot get enough of Britain news, but the Wizards show no interest whatsoever in news from Britain. You cannot even get a Daily Prophet in this country. Not that I ever tried. But they welcomed me, although they have always thought I may have been on the run from the trouble in Britain. They gave me the Dark Arts job because I knew not only the Defense parts but I actually knew Dark Arts and they reasoned that it would only improve my teaching to know both sides of the subject. I am, of course, forbidden to teach Dark Arts, and I never have. Not out of any sense of moral obligation, mind, but because they were taught me by Severus and I have avoided the subject of Severus Snape for 18 years.
Which, of course, brings me to the subject of the very owl you have sent me - Severus Snape. You tell me he is alive. Not dead. Not killed. You tell me he is responsible for the death of Peter Pettigrew, who framed my brother and sent him to Azkaban. That he has cleared my brothers' name. That he has done great things to see to the fall of Lord Voldemort as a double agent and has never yet been discovered as one. And you tell me that he remembers me. That he, too was lied to by my brother. That we both thought the other dead. That you suspect he still loves me as much as I love him. Still.
Remus, my anger is rising again, and this will become a Howler if I do not stop soon. I will treat you as a liar until I find out if you are telling me the truth or not. You see, I have become as bitter as you say Severus has become. The ironies, eh? I will do as you ask. If you are lying I do not think the pain would be much greater than before.
Until July 2nd, then, Amethyst
Severus read the letter twice. He looked at Lupin. "This is genuine?" he asked, his voice shaking.
Lupin replied with a soft voice. "Yes, Severus. It is genuine. I can prove everything."
Severus read the letter again. "July second. That was yesterday."
Lupin finished his drink and stood. "Follow me, Severus."
Severus dropped the note, which flared brightly and disappeared in a puff of blue smoke and followed Lupin up three flights of stairs to the suites. There were only two suites at the Leaky Caldron. Lupin went to the door marked "2" and opened it.
Severus followed Lupin into a large room richly furnished. Large windows made the room as light as outside. A woman stood before one of these large windows, watching Diagon Alley below her. Severus saw rich purple robes and a long, thick black braid, which came almost to the floor. Interwoven into this braid was a very familiar ribbon. He stepped tentatively forward, past Lupin, his hand outstretched as if to touch the long braid.
Amethyst Rayne Black turned around and spotted Severus. She took a sharp intake of breath and slowly began walking towards him. She, too, stretched her hand in front of her. Their fingertips touched.
Still arms lengths away from each other, Amethyst and Severus simply stood and stared at each other for several minutes, not speaking. Amethyst was the first to speak.
"Severus." She whispered.
"Amethyst." Severus whispered back. "I cannot believe -" he stopped speaking.
Amethyst entwined her fingers with Severus and brought her other hand up to clasp his hand in both of hers. She stepped forward as he did and they were soon very close together.
Amethyst now looked up at Severus and touched his face. "My dream." She whispered again, and closed her eyes against her tears. "So long I dreamed you were alive and I would hold you again."
Severus leaned forward and tenderly kissed her eyelids. "We are together again. At last." He whispered, as he wrapped his arms around her.
They remained that way for hours, just holding each other as if afraid to let go, and neither of them noticed when Remus Lupin left them alone.
Three days later, Remus Lupin went to answer a knock on his door. He did not often get visitors, but today he was expecting a houseful.
He opened the door and smiled. Standing before him were Amethyst and Severus.
"Remus." Amethyst said, her voice alight with happiness.
"Come in! Please!" Lupin opened the door for them and they entered. He sat them down and quickly conjured tea. "Your early."
"I owe you an apology." She said softly.
Lupin smiled broadly. "No you do not, Amethyst." He said, simply. "I am only sorry I could not have done something sooner." And he truly meant it.
Amethyst took Lupins' hand. "You did not know. My brother was blinded by hatred when it came to Severus. It never occurred to me that he would stoop so low as to tell us each the other was dead in his attempt to keep us apart."
"He's still blinded." Severus said. He drank some tea and looked at Lupin. He was about to speak again, when there was another knock at the door. Amethyst looked sharply at Lupin.
"Don't worry. He'll promise to be on his best behavior." Lupin said standing.
He did not hear Amethyst's mumbles as he went to answer the door. He looked at his old friend Sirius Black. He stepped out of his door, closing it behind him.
"Hello Sirius." Lupin said. "I thought you were going to come alone?" he said looking at the young man and woman beside him.
Harry Potter and Hermione Granger both raised their eyebrows. Sirius looked puzzled. "They came over this morning as I was on my way out. They haven't seen you in a while and decided to tag along. I didn't know you expected me to be alone."
"Well," Lupin said more to himself than anyone. "Maybe it will go more smoothly this way. With witnesses."
"Remus, what are you talking about. Why are we standing out here?" Sirius said.
"Because I wanted a word before you went in. I have some guests and I don't want trouble, so you'd better promise me Sirius that you will be civil." Lupin said, with a deadly serious look at Sirius.
Sirius nodded but Lupin looked unsure for a moment, then opened the door and let them into his house.
Harry saw Severus Snape and a witch he did not know standing near the fireplace. Before he could wonder what in the world Professor Snape was doing in Lupins house, the witch pulled out her wand, pointed it in their direction and hissed softly "Everbero".
Sirius was thrown off his feet and thrown across the room. He hit the wall with a thud and slid to the floor.
Severus' eyebrows rose and a slight grin touched his lips. Lupin yelled "Amethyst!" while grabbing Harry's wand arm. He looked sideways at Hermione and said, "Don't do anything." Harry and Hermione relaxed slightly, looking at all the people in the room.
Sirius was getting slowly to his feet. The witch was looking at Sirius with great loathing.
"Hello, Amethyst." He grunted, still bent over in pain. "I guess I deserved that."
The witch still held her wand on Sirius. "You deserve the Cruciatus curse." She
said in a deadly soft voice.
Harry felt himself tense. He had no idea what was going on. He was relieved when the woman responded to Lupin's "Put the wand away."
The woman lowered her wand and said. "Forgive me, Remus."
"Not at all." Lupin said. "He did deserve it."
"Ummmm," Harry said nervously. "What's going on here?"
Lupin gave him half a grin. "I would like you to meet Amethyst Black." he waved an arm at the witch.
Amethyst nodded to Harry and Hermione.
"Black?" Harry said, looking at where his godfather had just appeared beside him.
"My sister." Sirius grunted, feeling his ribs and wincing. He was glaring, not at his sister, but at Severus.
"Your what?" Harry gasped. "I didn't know you had a sister." Said Hermione.
"Yes, well," Lupin said. "If you'll hand me your wands, more will be revealed, I'm sure."
Harry gasped as Sirius, Severus and Amethyst all handed Lupin their wands. Feeling a bit numb, Harry and Hermione did the same. Lupin pocketed all five wands.
"Please sit down, Sirius. Harry." Lupin motioned to the couch. "Tea?"
Harry had never in his life been in such an odd situation. He, Sirius and Hermione sat on the couch while Severus and Amethyst remained standing by the fireplace. Lupin stood in between the two groups like some weird referee.
"Well," said Lupin after about five minutes of complete silence. "Since no one else is going to speak, I will tell the story to the best of my ability. It will likely be much longer with you two here, just so you know." He looked at Harry, who had been watching murderous stares exchanged between the others in the room.
"You know already that Severus and Sirius hate each other." He said. "What you don't know is exactly why."
Hermione couldn't help but interrupt. "It's because of that stupid prank, isn't it Professor, I mean, Remus. With the Whomping Willow."
Severus was scowling. "It went further back than that, Miss Granger." He hissed.
"Severus." Amethyst said soothingly, apparently back in control of herself. She looked at Severus with more tenderness than Harry or Hermione had ever seen anyone show to him.
She stepped forward. "I will tell the story, Remus. I know more of it, anyway." She said. She took a deep breath and sighed. "I am two years younger than my brother, here." She began. "We were close about a million years ago. By the time we were both at Hogwarts, we were growing further apart. Sirius had his friends, and you most likely know who they were. And, of course, they had their enemies." She glanced back at Severus and said. "Severus Snape was probably their worst enemy back at school. By the time they were in their Fifth year and I was in my Third you would have thought there was nothing to be done to make them hate each other more." She sighed. "I managed to change all that."
"Potions class was a living nightmare for me. I just could not figure it out. I was blowing up a caldron a week it seemed. I came close to having to repeat the Third year because of my Potions grade." She looked at her brother with a barely softening expression. "Sirius spoke to our father who spoke to the headmaster of the school. Albus Dumbledore assigned me a tutor. The smartest student in the school when it came to potions. Professor McGonagall was not pleased, but Dumbledore had spoken. Severus Snape became my Potions tutor."
"He was tall and thin and my brother and his friends had told me what a greasy, oily hairy slime ball he was." She looked at Harry and Hermione who were both grinning. They couldn't help themselves, even with Severus in the room. But he didn't look angry. He seemed to be remembering this part of the story himself, and the two new graduates of Hogwarts were amazed to see that he did not seem angry, but pensive. "I see the description stuck." She said softly. Harry and Hermione both recovered themselves.
"I suppose it could not be called untrue, even so long ago." She chuckled. "But I was terrified of him based upon rumor alone. But it turned out that Severus Snape did not live up to his reputation with me. He was an excellent tutor and he helped me get over my phobia of potions. We talked a lot. About potions and eventually about ourselves. Our lives were very similar, as it turned out. But we'd agreed to keep the tutoring sessions as secret as we could. No one ever knew he tutored me back in my Fourth year except for us and McGonagall and Dumbledore. Including my brother."
Sirius looked at her sister. "So that's how you met." He said, looking directly at Severus. "OK, that one I'll actually apologise for. I thought you'd sought her out to get closer to us."
Snape sneered, then nodded. "Accepted." He said, quickly. It looked like the word may have hurt him.
"Well, it's a start anyway." Lupin said, rolling his eyes.
"I was madly in love with him before my Third year was over." Amethyst caught the looks on Harry's and Hermione's faces and laughed out loud. "It seems impossible to you, I know, but it is true."
"It was the prank my brother played on Severus that tipped our hand to him." She said, her voice turning icy. "I was so worried that Severus would get hurt, I threw caution to the winds and asked my brother what would happen to him if he tried to follow Remus. James ran immediately to stop Severus. My brother, however, dragged me off to watch." She turned her eyes to her brother, who had his face in his hands. "He was actually disappointed that Severus wasn't killed. He was yelling at me to not see him anymore. Didn't I know what he was like? Didn't I know?" She stopped and took a calming breath. "Of course I knew. I knew my brother was dead wrong. I knew my brother had deliberately tried to get the man I loved killed. We fought that night, my brother and I. He made me choose between him and Severus. And I choose Severus."
Hermione gasped. "Why?" she asked, breathlessly.
"I hear the Severus Snape you knew at Hogwarts was an angry and bitter man, Hermione." Amethyst said. Hermione nodded, not looking at Snape. "I am here today to tell you why he was that way." She looked over her shoulder. "Unless you would like to tell them, Severus."
Severus just shook his head, no. "You're doing just fine."
Amethyst smiled and looked back at the former Hogwarts students. "Lets see. Yes, I choose my lover over my brother." She smiled at Hermione's look. "Sirius stopped speaking to me and he and Severus seemed to have developed a hatred of each other that would last forever. Severus was doing everything he could think of to get Sirius and his friends expelled and they came back at him with their own. They had to invent detentions for them all." She chuckled. "But basically they all left Hogwarts without getting each other expelled."
"Dumbledore hired Severus to teach Potions that very summer, and so he became my teacher. He was the only teacher, before or since, to be hired as a teacher right out of finishing the school. I cannot tell you how odd it was to have him as my teacher. I had to put a Memory charm on my own brother when he threatened to tell Dumbledore about us. That's why he had no idea that Severus was working at Hogwarts when Remus told him." She said. "You probably also know that that summer was the summer that Severus joined the Death Eaters." Seeing Harry and Hermione's stunned expressions, she bit her lip. "Or maybe you don't."
"Severus was convinced that I would be in horrible danger if the Death Eaters ever found out about me, so he taught me everything he knew about the Dark Arts." She said. "Turned out it was a good thing, too, because it was the summer he left Hogwarts that Dumbledore asked Severus to become a double agent."
"At great personal risk." Harry said. He looked at Snape. "She was the 'great personal risk', wasn't she?"
Severus nodded. "Just being a Death Eater put Amethyst in danger. Being a double agent put her in double danger. If they were to find out that I was a spy for Dumbledore they would have killed her in the worse way possible and forced me to watch before they killed me."
"We finally come to the point we have all been waiting for." Amethyst said, clapping her hands. "And the place where the story begins to fragment. I can only tell you my side of this."
"Shortly before Voldemort killed your parents." She said quietly, glancing at Harry, but her eyes were on Sirius. "I was taken by my brother to see a man. This man told me that he was an Auror and that Severus was dead. I was so grief stricken that I didn't even think about it. My kind-hearted brother paid for me to go away. I couldn't bear staying here. There were memories everywhere. I went to the United States. You may not know that while the Muggles in the United States cannot get enough information about Britain, American wizards couldn't care less about wizards in Britain. You can't even get a Daily Prophet in the United States. So I never knew what happened. I have lived the years since then as a bitter old maid. No friends. No one to care about and no one who cared about me."
Hermione looked at Sirius openmouthed. Harry asked Snape. "And you, Profes-, I mean, Sev, I mean. What about you?"
Severus smiled an angry smile and spoke with his jaw tightly clenched. "I received a visit from Sirius the morning after your parents died, Potter. He ranted and raved at me about how the Death Eaters had found out that his sister was my lover and how because she was his sister, they went to his home and killed her, in an attempt to convince him to tell them where your parents were hidden." His voice rose slightly. "He told me there wasn't even a body and asked me if I was happy about what my fellow Death Eaters had done to his sister. What Sirius did not know, was that all of this had apparently transpired at the very same time I was in front of Dumbledore, telling him that Voldemort knew where the Potters were and when he was likely to attack. That is why I spent so much time and energy trying to keep your arse out of trouble, Potter. Not out of some favour to James, although that played a part, but because you were the price I paid. My penance. Somehow keeping you alive helped keep Amethyst alive for me. I often thought of her when I saw you. The pain of it somehow comforted me." He took a deep breath and looked about to say more, but changed his mind. He clamped his hands very tightly in front of him and seemed about to break them he was squeezing so hard.
Harry felt his throat go tight. Even though he and Snape had managed to avoid as much open hostility towards each other after his Fourth year, Snape was still vicious when it came to him. Now Harry understood why. Lupin cleared his throat. "And so they each thought the other dead and lived on with that pain for all these years." He said sadly. "Severus went back to teaching at Hogwarts but was bitter. Very bitter. And each year it got worse. And in the US, the same thing was happening to Amethyst." He shook his head. Hermione was crying openly. "I found out about a month ago that Amethyst was still alive. One of wizards aiding us in the fights with Voldemort was from America and he was telling me about his Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher after I complimented him on the perfect Stunning Spell he used. You remember the one, Severus? The one that allowed you to get close enough to Peter to snap his neck." Severus nodded. "It's funny. If it weren't for Severus, Sirius, you would still be an outlaw. Hearing their story now, I'm very surprised he did it."
Snape snarled. "Do you honestly believe I did it for him, Lupin?" His eyes bored into Sirius'. "I did it because of Amethyst. I knew she would not want him living the life of an outlaw forever. Call it more penance, if you must."
He clapped his hands. "Anyway, he asked me if I might know this teacher, as she was British. 'Her name is Amethyst Black', he said. I thought I had heard him wrong. I told him she was dead and he told me I was mad. He told me how to get in touch and I sent her an owl."
He looked at Severus and Amethyst and said, "They were reunited three days ago."
Sirius moaned and buried his face in his hands again. Hermione glared at him. "I'm surprised at you, Sirius Black." She snapped. "How could you do such a thing?"
Sirius looked up at Hermione. "You know Snape." He growled. "You tell me."
Hermione kept shaking her head in disbelief. Harry's mind was reeling. It was an incredible story he'd just heard.
Sirius suddenly stood. "Why am I here again, Remus?" He snapped. "To get yet another lecture on how I shouldn't hate Severus Snape for shagging my sister? He turned to his sister. "After what that Slytherin did to our father! How could you is what I would like to know!"
Amethyst walked over to her brother and slapped him hard across the face. Hermione screamed and covered her mouth. Amethyst raised her hand to slap him again and Severus quickly stepped up and grabbed her arm. "Don't." he said, softly. Harry was amazed at the look in Severus' eyes when he looked at Amethyst. Love and concern. The whole thing was surreal.
"How dare you even think of comparing Severus with our mother!" she hissed. She relaxed and Snape released her arm. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed once. She then took another deep breath. She lowered her hands and looked at her brother again. She shook her head and moved around him, Harry and Hermione towards the door. Severus was now facing Sirius.
"You just don't get it, do you?" He said. And he followed Amethyst to the door.
"Remus." Snape called, and Lupin went to the door, where the three of them huddled and spoke in low voices for a moment. All Harry could make out was Amethyst suddenly saying "Absolutely not!" After another moment, she nodded and Lupin hugged her and, to Harry's surprise, shook Severus' hand. He returned their wands to them. And then they were gone.
Lupin returned to his sitting room. He patted Hermione on the shoulder. She was
still shaking and white. He cleared his throat.
"We have been invited to a wedding." He said. Sirius turned to face him. "All of us." He emphasized.
"Bloody hell." Sirius said, shaking his head. "I don't believe her." He walked to the door. "Remus, my wand, please."
Lupin returned his wand to him and Sirius left without another word.
Lupin sighed and turned to Harry and Hermione. He returned their wands to them, saying. "I am sorry you had to see that." He said softly.
"Remus," Hermione said, her voice shaking.
"Hermione," Lupin said, gently. "Sirius has always been angry about his mother. You see, she killed herself when Amethyst was only five years old or so. She doesn't remember her very well. Their father was a Gryffindor. He found out somehow, no one knows how. They weren't at Hogwarts together, you see. He was ten years older than his wife."
"She was a Slytherin." Harry said, quietly.
"Right in one, Harry." Lupin said, sadly. "Right in one."
Hogsmeade was always beautiful. In a private room in the Three Broomsticks at nine o'clock on the morning of August the first, eight people gathered for the very informal wedding of Amethyst Black to Severus Snape. The people in attendance were Albus Dumbledore, who performed the ceremony, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Minerva McGonagall. Both Amethyst and Severus wanted a small ceremony.
The wedding went of without a hitch. It also went off without Sirius Black.
After the wedding, the small party in the room for drinks. Ron, having gotten himself a bit tipsy, asked Severus if he had used the Imperius curse to get Amethyst to marry him. Hermione hit him hard in the arm and Ron went red. Severus raised his eyebrows and said, silky as always. "I am a Potions Master, Mister Weasley. You figure it out." And everyone laughed, including Severus and
Ron.
As the party broke up, late in the evening, Hermione pulled Ron aside and whispered in his ear. His eyes widened as she spoke to him. Suddenly he said "What the hell." loud enough for everyone to hear. Hermione led him back over to the group and poked Ron in the ribs to make him speak.
Ron turned red again. "Professor Snape," he said. "Hermione and I are getting married ourselves in two weeks." He glanced at Hermione, who nodded, turning slightly pink. "There's room for two more." He said in a rush.
Severus actually smiled. "I thank you for that gracious invitation which I have no doubt Miss Granger has put you up to." He said softly. "But we must decline. This ceremony was small for two reasons, Weasley. The first being that neither my new wife nor myself has ever been popular." He paused, even though he knew no one there could argue the fact. "The second being that I cannot afford to be seen in the company of Harry Potter at this juncture. It would be too dangerous for both of us."
The only people in attendance who had arrived on foot were McGonagall and Dumbledore. They had arrived early and secured the room, putting charms and spells on the place that no one would know what the room was being used for. The rest, to include the bride and groom, had apparated. Just because Voldemort had finally been defeated did not mean it was completely safe. In the last couple of years, Harry, Ron and Hermione had come to understand Severus a bit more, but they could not appear to like him anymore than he could pretend to like them, although feelings all around had, in reality, changed. And so, in two weeks time, Ron and Hermione were married in a huge ceremony, but without the presence of Severus Snape and his wife.