Author's Note: I vaguely remember reading something similar to this chapter and the others that follow however no copying was intended or implied. As far as I know, this entire story came to me in a warped dream. =) Don't we all dream about Severus at least once in our lives and if not, don't you want to? Anyways- on ward!!

Green light.

No....

Green light in the shape of something.

Don't make a sound...don't think about it...

A skull.

No… He thought, it wasn't possible...

Green light.

Don't make a sound...just keep walking...

Green light over his house. He looked up and saw the Dark Mark blazing over the house, his house. He had never felt fear like this before and he had faced Vampires and Werewolves. But he was afraid of the green light.

"No." The man called Alexander Rouge said, pulling the last shreds of strength and running to his house.

"Alex, don't go in there." Jude Remington pulled him back. The Auror was looking at his friend and keeping his hands planting firmly on his shoulders. "Don't go in there, Severus."

He looked at Jude but didn't see him. He only heard him call him by his real name. That was all the Auror training that had been drilled into him needed to know his fears were true. "My wife!" He screamed out, pulling out of Jude's strong grip. "My wife, Dahlia! Dahlia! Dora!" Malachi Smith and Victoria Hawke tackled him. They forced him to the ground but he was still screaming into the house. "Billy!"

His mind was taking tally. Seven Aurors, four Hit Wizards…where on earth where the damn med wizards?!? The Witches were already performing memory charms on the Muggle neighbors. His mind was spinning out of control. "Dora!"

He turned his head and saw Jude helping another person pulled out a body on the stretcher. The arm was hanging limply off, it was that hand of Billy Moore, his partner. Following, could have only been the body of Dahlia Wyvern Snape, his wife. He closed his eyes and screamed.

The next conscience moment he was aware of was him standing in the doorway to the child's bedroom. He made out the image of a sleeping child in the bed. Relief and joy flooded him. They had spared her. They had spared Dora. It was only a second later, the grim truth occurred to him. Dora wasn't breathing…

It was Jude who found him. He was cradling the toddler in his arms on the side of the bed. Jude licked his lips and stepped in. "We arrived too late."

"Quiet, Jude." He whispered. "You'll wake her."

"Severus…"

"Shh...we mustn't wake her. It takes forever to get her to sleep. She's afraid, you see. She's terrified of the dark."

"Why don't you bring her outside, Alex?" Jude offered. "Remember? She was supposed to spend the night. Bring her outside."

"She's asleep."

"Take her outside."

"No!" Severus jolted from his nightmare and wiped the tears from his eyes. He was straining for air. It had been a memory surfacing in the form of a nightmare. One he had buried deep inside. He wiped the sweat from his face and tried to not notice he was shaking. Wherever he was, it was dark and with the darkness was welcoming. In the darkness, he was comfortable. Safe.

Safe.

Cold, private, dark and dank but save. That's all that mattered. Let the nightmares come…and the beatings…let them come with the Dementors and their Judas' Judgment…let them think whatever they wanted. In here they couldn't touch him.

In here, he was safe…

This wasn't real...it was a dream.

Severus shook his head, cursing the newest memory that entered his mind unbidden. It had been a nightmare. He swallowed hard. It had just been a dream.

But he didn't dream.

He rose from bed and walked to his desk. In the pitch black, he glided instead of groped through a well-rehearsed path. But it took him longer then usual. He was walking to steady himself. Pacing always helped. Focusing all his attention on making the proper muscles move to execute the task always helped him when he was in there.

"No, Severus." He said to himself. "Don't think about that…just keep walking."

It only took seven steps for him to walk from one side to the other. God, could it be that crapped? He imagined they would have at least given him a bigger cell.

Seven steps…count them.

One…two…three…four

"Why'd you do it, Alexander?"

"Mr. Snape at what time did you, as Professor Dumbledore alleges, turn informant…"

"I trusted you!"

"Why?"

"When did you begin to feed information to Dumbledore?"

He's asking when did I become a traitor…

No…don't think like that…

Keep walking…count…

"Count with me, daddy!"

"Why do you call me that? I'm not your real daddy, Billy is. You know that."

"But you're my second daddy." She explained simply. Everything was simple with Dora and if they weren't simple. She made them simple, "Now count with me…"

Severus slid into a large recliner near the windows of his room. He reached over and poured what was left of the amber whiskey out of the canter into the glass and downed it bitterly. He had already refilled that canter twice this afternoon; refusing to drink from a bottle, like a commoner. He smiled at his haughtiness. Then, after a quick trip to his desk, he gulped the Jack Daniels down carrying the album with him.

Lighting a candle, he looked down at the picture opened on his lap. It was of a two-year-old girl, with dark hair and bright eyes, waving at him from her mother's arms. Beside the silken haired mother were two men both Aurors, one was Billy Moore, the other was a younger version of himself, nursing a goatee because it made him look older. He stared at the picture for a long time.

"Count with me Daddy."

Snape swallowed hard. "Alright darling. Shall we count the crows? Say them with me…"

"One for sorrow." Whispered a voice next to him. A pale hand, almost ivory because it was so pale and perfectly formed, reached out and touched his arm.

He tensed, flinching under the touch but not pulling away. In his drunkenness, he inclined his head and stared at the hand then trailed the pale arm to a face.

Pandora Snape smiled at him through wild curls of ebony. She tilted her head to the left when she smiled and her dimples shot straight to his heart. Her beautiful, small eyes seemed to shine more brightly when she smiled at him. She crawled into his lap and rested her head against his chest. Severus smiled dumbly, folding his arms over her and closing his eyes. Content to sleep now.

It was noon when Severus finally felt someone jostle him awake. He could tell the time by the sun that was shining on his face through the windows. "Shit." He muttered, remembering last night's drunken binges and dreams. It was probably Remus or worst, Dumbledore, coming to check on him. He adjusted his mental clock and calendar. "Damn." He added with the realization that he had missed his only two classes that day. The jostling continued. He took a stab. "Alright, alright- I'm up Remus. Tell Albus, I'm up and sober."

"Remus? Albus?" A sharp crisp laugh forced Severus to open his eyes, in shock at the recognition of the laugh. "Merlin's bread Alec, what or who on earth are you talking?"

Any remnants of last nigh drunken binge at Hogwarts, if indeed it had been a drunken binge, were wiped from Snape's mind the moment he saw the speaker.

The genteel but unremarkable face of Billy Moore stared down at him with a kind of confused-but friendly-puzzlement. "What's the matta?" The American asked. "Looks like you've seen a ghost."