As far back as she could remember, Saturnine Eileen Snape had always had a thing for photographs.

When the time came to chronicle her family's history, she wouldn't hear about portraits' halls or bewitched tapestries. No, for Saturnine Eileen Snape, there was only one choice: a magical family album.

Ever the resourceful one, she handmade hers from scratch. First, she chose the paper that would make the pages. She opted for light-beige vellum with a soft texture. Then she scourged no less than three specialised boutiques to find the perfect dragonhide leather to use for the outside binding. It was blacker than night and sure to get her brother's instant approval. She had the shopkeeper cut the material to the right size and emboss their family crest on each piece.

It took Saturnine several days of hard work to assemble everything and perform all the complicated charms she had selected. She'd been researching the craft for weeks now and knew just which potion to use to strengthen the material so it would never age. She lathered each page with it and then recited spells to prevent wear and tear. She enchanted the spine and both covers to make them waterproof and keyed the album to their family line so only Snape heirs could open it. Lastly, she used a charm of her own device to make sure it would never run out of pages.

It was on a quiet Sunday afternoon that Saturnine sat down at Cove Cottage's coffee table with a selection of photographs, a jar of bewitched black ink, and her best quill. Opening the family album, she carefully pressed the tip of the quill to the front page. Using large cursive letters, she used three rows to write "House of Snape," adding a bit of a flourish to both capital letters. With a flick of her wrist, she dried the ink and turned the page.

On top of the next right-hand-side page, she wrote the names "Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince," followed by their respective dates of birth and death. Once the ink had dried, Saturnine used a charm to stick a single photograph below the heading. It was a black and white muggle snapshot taken on her parents' wedding day. It was one of the few portraits she had rescued from Spinner's End. The ones her mother had kept in an old coral shoebox. Saturnine had long debated whether to add the pair to her album or not. She knew Severus wouldn't approve and would probably scoff at her odd bout of sentimentalism. But truth be told, she had done it for her children—for Harry and Draco.

Though the boys weren't linked to them by blood, they still possessed the same sense of belonging that other children did. She had seen it manifest in fits and bursts over the years. Like when Harry once casually asked about what Tobias and Eileen had looked like and if either Saturnine or Severus had inherited their traits. Or when Draco had timidly asked her one day if she wouldn't mind taking him along if she ever were to go visit her mother's grave again. And Saturnine knew of the hours the boys had spent poring over Hogwarts' genealogy tomes to research the elusive Prince lineage.

Harry and Draco were the House of Snape's heirs. Their curiosity was understandable. It was only fair for them to want to put a face on their grandparents' names.

Glancing down at the newlyweds, forever frozen on glossy photographic paper, Saturnine marvelled at how much damage a couple of years could do to a person. The pair of smiling twenty-somethings was a far cry from the parents she knew. There was life still in her mother's eyes, and heartache hadn't stretched taut the skin of her face and hallowed her cheeks. Her father, too, looked miles away from the bitter man she knew. She had never seen him look so—happy? She realised this was how Tobias Snape had looked before magic came into his life. Before he had learned that no matter what he did, no matter what he achieved, he could never compete with the wizards and witches his wife had grown up with.

With a pang of regret for never having had the chance to meet these two people, Saturnine turned the page. Quill back in hand, she wrote her brother's name and date of birth on top of the next left-hand-side page. Her heart fluttered with a different set of feelings when she realised that one day, someone would have to write another date next to the line that read, "January 9, 1960." She prayed to Merlin, Circe and Morgana that it wouldn't have to be her.

She stuck to the page a large photograph of Severus taken from the Hogwarts' archives. Professor Snape, Hogwarts' Head of Slytherin and Master of Potions, was the side of Severus most people were familiar with. And she was sure that it was how her sibling would like to be remembered. The photograph she had selected was three years old. But out of all the staff portraits she had found, it was the one where Severus looked more amicable. Well, he wasn't frowning—much.

Below that one, Saturnine stuck two more photographs. Someone probably took the first one before she was born. This small treasure had come from the private collection of their old neighbour, Mrs Cook. Saturnine had visited the old woman again, five years ago, shortly before the old lady passed away. Severus had refused to come, and it had been quite the trip down memory lane for the young witch to return to the Midlands alone. But she had braved it, in a display of gratitude for everything the old lady had done for them.

Like most neighbours who lived on Spinner's End, Mrs Cook knew the Snape household wasn't a happy one. The frequent shooting and screaming that escaped their open windows in the summer were impossible to miss. But like everyone else, Mrs Cook turned a blind eye and deaf ear to what was going on in the last house on their spindly street.

But Mrs Cook was never as good as the other neighbours to pretend that Severus and Saturnine didn't exist. On smothering hot summer days, she would sometimes slip a handful of pocket coins to Severus so he could buy them ice-creams or cold lemonades. And when the two kids were forced to while away the time outside on stormy winter evenings until it was safe to return inside, she would open her kitchen window just long enough to hand out twin mugs of steaming sugary-sweet tea.

Next to that photograph, Saturnine stuck a new snapshot she had taken earlier this year. For completely different reasons, this one was just as rare a treat. Frozen for the rest of eternity on film was the undeniable proof that Severus Snape could smile. While her brother often allowed himself a smile or two these days, capturing one such event on film was akin to photographing a vampire in broad daylight. Not technically impossible, but a hazardous and possibly lethal endeavour, nonetheless.

On the opposite page, Saturnine wrote her full name and date of birth. She stuck another photograph from the Hogwarts' archive below—radiant smile included. Below that one, she placed a copy of the prised photograph she had rescued from her mother's shoebox. Next to it, she placed a casual snapshot Draco had taken during her fortieth birthday party that showed her laughing at one of Harry's silly jokes.

She filled the next couple of pages of the album with images of her sons—Draco, the eldest, first, and then Harry. For the same reasons she had included Tobias and Eileen at the beginning of the album, she included in each set a photograph of the boys' biological parents. Remus was kind enough to duplicate a few mementoes from his collection. And she had Dobby return to Malfoy Manor—which was impossibly still on Ministry lockdown—to retrieve a couple of portraits of Lucius and Narcissa, as well as photographs from Draco's childhood.

After finishing the boys' section, she moved to the only blank page that was left. With a swell of pride, she stuck a photograph in the centre of an adorable baby girl. She had a round face, bright blue eyes, and a tuft of sandy blond hair on her head. Born only ten weeks ago, Sophia Snape was their first grandchild. Saturnine wouldn't have bet on Draco being the first to honour them with a legacy, but after he'd met with his wife, things moved fast for the pair. They had met at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes last summer, gotten married in autumn, and announced the pregnancy in the middle of the family's Christmas dinner.

There were no more blank pages left to the album. But Saturnine knew that a new one would appear at a tap of her wand on the back cover. Charmed as it was, their family album would never run out of vellum paper. And she hoped with all her heart that many generations of sons and daughters would find their likeness captured on its pages. Different handwritings would come to record their family's history, and long after she and Severus had passed, little boys and girls would flip over the album's pages to see whose features they had inherited. And their parents would share a story or two about their ancestors.

"Saturnine?" Her brother's voice cut into her thoughts, and she looked up towards the corridor leading to the bedrooms. Severus appeared an instant later, with a bundle of flying hands and kicking legs carefully held between his arms. "I think she's hungry again."

Saturnine got up with a chuckle, leaving the album behind on the living room sofa. Their granddaughter was a voracious little girl and quite impatient when she deemed it to be lunch o'clock. Her grandparents knew from experience they had better ready the milk bottle quickly if they didn't want her to start crying.

"I'll warm the milk," Saturnine said, moving to the kitchen.

Severus followed with the fussy little one cradled in his arms. They were babysitting for the entire afternoon, and her brother hadn't left Sophia's side for a minute. He even let the little girl take her naps on his chest. And when Severus, too, had dozed off sometime around four-thirty, Saturnine had pulled out her battered, old camera. The resulting photograph, she decided, would go in the other album she kept—her personal family album. It was a cornucopia of happy memories collected over the years. Bewitched like most things in her life, that one, too, had an endless supply of pages.

After all, there was no better place to keep photographs of loved ones.

~ The End ~


Dear readers,

You've now made it to the official end of the Familia Ante Omnia saga.

If you enjoyed this story, I would love to hear from you. You can drop me a line through my website, or leave a review where you found the story.

Familia Ante Omnia was a labour of love which kept me occupied for well-over three years, and touches on many subjects that are very dear to me. The overall positive welcome my original character, Saturnine Snape, received thrilled me. As did the fans' continued interest in this story. Thank you to everyone who commented as the chapters were first published; your positive energy was the fuel that carried me forward.

The entire Familia Ante Omnia saga can be found online on AO3, and Potions and Snitches. Or it can be freely downloaded from my personal website (fully-formatted files — epub, mobi and pdf).

sarajany dot wordpress dot com

Much love to you all,

—Sara