A/N: Here it is! The end. Thank you all who read this little story of mine 3

Epilogue

It had been twenty years since then and Severus couldn't help but still think about it all quite often. He was currently sitting with a coffee – provided by the obsequious secretary who thought he was a rockstar or something – waiting to be received by Professor Tipotle to discuss their last academic paper. Severus really liked that he could now afford some time away from the toy business to do research. It had taken some years to get there, years filled with hard work on both Sirius's and his parts, but they did take the shop to a point where it was definitely a very successful business and they were not needed on location every day. They now had thirty-three employees divided in their three shops and everything was working very smoothly at this point. The littlest shop in Diagon Alley would always be Severus' favourite, however. So many memories. Memories like this one he kept getting back to.

Meeting Harry Potter had been quite the experience in Severus Snape's life. The toddler didn't even blink when he looked at his broken face for the first time, and immediately tried to pull his hair before laughing joyfully at his startled reaction. Potter's spawn, confirmed. He was deemed "Uncle Sevus" and it stuck from then on. The brat even thanked him as such in his post-Hogwarts Defense dissertation, to everyone's amusement, just a few months before.

It wasn't the most dramatic of the unexpected events thrown Severus's way that day, however. He could still remember that moment with surprising clarity, even decades later. He could see Lily's happy face, James' slightly nervous stance at her side, looking like he was ready to protect her from Severus's probable refusal, and of course little Harry, jumping around happily, completely unaware of the sudden tension in the room.

Lily had smiled at him then, and there had been something in her smile that had made his breath catch in his throat. He really could not have explained it, still couldn't years later, but that little smile was somehow full of something more, something impending, something important. She hadn't made him wait for long, and he had thanked her for it, since breathing was, after all, quite an important function for the human body. She was pregnant. He remembered thinking that he didn't know how it was something that needed to be announced to him. As funny as Sirius Black thought he was, there had always been only friendship between Severus and her, this was not his child-to-be, thank Merlin! And then she had asked it, the question that had cemented his being a part of their little extended family from there on out. "Do you want to be her godfather, Severus?" He had said yes without even thinking about it, and James had started laughing at once, his nerves getting the better of him. Harry, already very good with his timing, threw a plastic cauldron – one from the shop – across the room at the exact right moment, and all the tension had disappeared.

Alastor had teased him to no end about it, he still did to this day. Severus Snape, Godfather Extraordinaire. Between him and Sirius, these two children had been spoiled rotten, it was a miracle they had both turned out so good in the end.

Harry, the Defense Expert, on his way to become a Professor. And young Celia, fearless and stubborn, on her way to discover the world and its mysteries, curse-breaker apprentice. She called him every two days despite always being on the move and the last time they talked she had been roaming the Mongolian steppe.

These children were the best of them all, really.

Sighing, Severus looked at his pocket watch – a Muggle one, none of this wizard nonsense for him, thank you very much – Tipotle needed to get a move on because today was Thursday and, like every Thursday for two decades now, he had a very important date with a cold beer and a very stupid-but-in-an-endearing-way man.

Sirius would never let him forget it if he was late after being the one always teasing the other man about his liberties with time.

His weekly outings were also Severus's personal way of pissing off his appointed Healer. A very delightful occupation and one that tasted like his personal vengeance against the frankly excessive numbers of foul potions the woman made him take daily. Of course, he knew he should thank her, as it was her doing if he was henceforth a very rare case – being in better health in his forties than he had in his twenties – but still, she totally deserved it.

Shaking his head at his reminiscences, Severus realized that Alastor was right: he had had a very good life so far. Who would have thought that being the monster in the magical toys shop would be the key to unexpected happiness? Severus could appreciate the fact that this last example of his life being a big joke had turned out in his favor for once.

He was a very happy man.