A/n: Ooooo getting cloooser to the eeeeend.
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Severus stared at his fingers, in his make-shift office on the 3rd floor.
The walls were green and blue, much to Severus's chagrin, but it had a lovely sized laboratory adjoined to his rooms.
He looked through the door, into the room where there was a caldron sitting, lightly steaming on a stand.
He had paced, sat, drank some firewhiskey, stood up, walked to the potion, stared at it, walked back, paced a while and sat once again.
He hadn't considered his own needs in such a long time. Since he became a spy for the light, he had thought of Potter, regrettably, constantly. Albus was always on his mind. His life had become meaningless and pointless, he was an empty shell on the front line, simply waiting until someone killed him.
But he knew he was a large part in the fall of the Dark Lord. He knew he was partly responsible for righting the wizarding world, bringing it back to it's calm, sweet beauty that hadn't been seen since Potter was born.
But even now it was new. No one had the slight edginess, where some still believed the Dark Lord was around. Everyone had seen the pictures of the Dark Lords scattered bones, the charred ground, the grey haze.
Severus shuddered.
After all that, wasn't he due some thinking for himself? Could he possibly for a minute, conscience free, consider keeping Sophia all to himself?
He growled loudly and kicked the coffee table opposite him.
Why did it have to be so hard?
He could save the woman he loved from so much pain, but in turn, bring himself the pain of never seeing her again.
Or, seeing her for 2 weeks every year when he had holidays. And even then, he still wanted to stay with Albus.
He rubbed his eyes and stood up.
He would give the cure to Sophia. Maybe he could convince the Ministry to let her stay. If not, Albus would let him smuggle her in. Yes.
He strode to his lab, bottled the potion, pocketed it, and walked out the door.