A/N: Sorry for the long wait...hopefully there are not too many mistakes in here!

Harry staggered back, as if he had been struck. All of the feeling in his body seemed to slowly trickling down to his feet, replaced by an intense numbness. He couldn't remember rushing from the room, or slamming the door behind him. It seemed that he simply floated down the stairs, carried on a wayward breeze. His feet came to an abrupt halt in the kitchen, dropping him down onto a chair.

The icy rain was pattering madly against the kitchen window, muffling the sound of Harry's breathing. For a long moment he seemed caught in between a sublime rage and a turbulent shock, not knowing in which direction his mood would fall.

"My mother." Harry whispered, resting his trembling hands on the worn table top.

He had thought of Lily often when the was younger, still a little boy eager to be wrapped safely in a mother's embrace. As he grew older, and discovered both Hogwarts and the secrets of his past, it was his father who lived most vividly in his imagination. His father had always seemed to hold the key to his fate and existence, while his mother was mearly his mother. She had given him life and loved him, and then given her life to see his go on. Harry had never wondered what she looked like as a girl, who her friends were, none of the things had obsessed him about his father. He had never thought to dig beneath the surface of her extinguished life, to discover what made his mother Lily. What defined her beyond the presence of his own life.

What if Snape's declaration of love was true? He could know things about his mother that he didn't. Harry wasn't sure whether this was supposed to make him feel angry. What if Snape did know these things? It wasn't fair that he was allowed to keep them, away from Harry. Away from someone who really did love her.

The front door opened, a rush of cold air blowing through the house, dragging Harry slowly from his thoughts. He lifted his head, watching as Ginny walking towards him. Her cheeks were red from the cold, and droplets of frozen water clung to her shining red hair.

His mother had red hair. No, not exactly red. Auburn...the color of hazy sunsets and leaves in autumn.

"Are you alright Harry?" Ginny asked, the edges of her lips curling down into a frown. "I told Fleur her errands would have to wait for another day. I didn't feel right leaving you..."

Harry rose from the chair, suddenly feeling antsy and feverish. He didn't want Snape here anymore, he didn't him to be his responsibility. But also, he didn't want to give him the chance to make any other unsettling revelations.

"We have to turn Snape in." Harry said, pacing the room nervously. "It doesn't make any sense not to. He's a wanted criminal, we were just doing the right thing..."

"I guess." Ginny said flatly, unsure of how to respond. "But Alex thought..."

"Alex doesn't know everything!" Harry said harshly, cringing at the sound of his own voice.

Ginny's arms fluttered up over her chest, with the grace of a bird wounded in flight. Her lips were closed tightly, though her eyes seemed to convey all the hurt that speech would not.

"Sorry." Harry muttered, ashamed to have hurt her. "I'm just...I don't understand why we can't just bring Snape to the ministry. We haven't done anything really wrong."

Ginny sighed, a forced smile returning to her porcelain face.

"Not exactly." She agreed. "Maybe, Alex was overreacting. I'm sure the ministry will so relieved to finally caught him, they might not care how."

Harry nodded enthusiastically, his chest tightening, anxious for action.

"Let's just do it now...before anything else happens." He said, grabbing Ginny lightly by the wrist and pulling her towards the stairs.

"Something happened?" Ginny inquired, lightly as if she was afraid what his reaction might be.

"Yeah." Harry said gruffly, wishing he could forget Snape's sudden words.

If he could get Snape out of his house...out of sight, out of mind. He wouldn't have to think about Snape and his mother kissing. About how Snape might know things about his mother. Things Harry would never know, when it was his right. She was his mother.

"Did he try to hurt you? " Ginny asked, as they mounted the stairs.

"Probably." Harry said, a bitter laugh catching his throat. "He just loves my mother, that's all. He kissed my mother."

"He kissed..." Ginny began, staring at Harry as if he had gone mad. "How?"

"Years ago I mean." Harry said. "Before he betrayed her...before he got my mum and dad killed."

When the reached the small dark landing at the top of the stairs Ginny stepped in front of the door, blocking Harry's way. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, searching his green eyes for that reassuring softness that she had always found there.

"I can't begin to understand what you must be feeling right now." She whispered, her expression grave but somehow warm at the same time. "But you're Snape get the best of you. You haven't been acting yourself these past few days...its like your possessed with seeing him punished."

"Wouldn't you be?" Harry nearly shouted, not caring it Snape should hear him. "He killed Dumbledore, if you haven't forgotten! He ratted about the prophecy to Voldemort and got my parents killed. He lied to every single one of us!"

Ginny blinked rapidly, unable to see past the harshness in his voice. She could remember being that angry, at Dumbledore's funeral. Wondering how Snape could have done it, wondering if he even had a heart. But time had diluted her pain, and her rage as well. It would always be there, but no longer was it an uncontrollable fury, threatening to incinerate everything around her.

"Get a grip Harry." She whispered, so softly that he nearly missed it.

Harry paused, his hand resting on the doorknob, his eyebrows lifted in surprise. He shoved the door open without turning, daring her to step forward.

"Go in there then, and look into his eyes." He whispered, his voice suddenly very cold. "And tell me if you see a single speck of goodness, of anything besides hate for Merlin's sake..."

Ginny threw her hands up over her mouth, and then dropped them just as quickly. After fumbling for a second she pulled her wand free, and shoved past Harry into the bedroom.

"Wha..." Harry began, turning on his heels.

His voice died away when saw what Ginny had seen.

The open window, curtains fluttering on the breeze...the empty room.