For a moment Molly could only stare back, struck despite herself by the man's sober tone. He had a honesty to him that she wouldn't have ever expected from a life-long double agent and spy. She noticed that he had eyes so dark they could only be called black. Then she caught herself with a small shake of her head. "I'm not a snitch. I understand wanting to escape it all. Dear Merlin, I understand...Evan." As she turned to go, she paused again. "You're a very good teacher. My children always had such poor things to say about you in Hog- At school. But you are a good teacher, at least for me."

Severus stared back at Molly, slightly surprised at her acceptance yet grateful for it. He has spent many years trying to mend his mistakes (ever since he first overheard the prophecy), there were times he wanted to escape the wizardry world but Dumbledore will call him back, without fail, and remind him of the boy with Lily's eyes.

"Thank you." He said in a slow and deliberate voice, and then he noticed a spark in Molly's brown eyes. It was not a mischievous glint from earlier, nor was it a maternal look. It was real and sincere; a spark only one will have if they want to leave everything they know. "Molly, I am not great with words. Prefer solitude and quiet, but if you ever need a companion or just quiet just call -" He stopped himself shortly, realizing that this woman was a witch from a strictly magical family and not one of his usual muggle students. "Owl me. Evan Prince of Cokesworth." Then with a goodbye, he shouldered his bag, and swiftly left in his vehicle (another way he tried to blend in the muggle world).

Molly went her own way, toward a public toilet from which she could Disapparate. She walked slowly, with much to mull over. She had met Severus before, of course, at Grimmauld Place when he came to Order of the Phoenix meetings. Still, she didn't think they had ever actually spoken directly to one another. Her impression then had been of dislike, almost hostility, not of her personally, but of everything in general. Severus seemed... different now. Less bitter, perhaps, but also more lost. Well, she could relate to that. When Arthur died - taking the Curse meant for Fred - her entire world had fallen off its axis, her internal compass had been broken to pieces. Arthur had had blue eyes, like Ron, Percy, and Charlie. How she missed him... And yet, talking to Severus, she had...not forgotten, but no longer been constantly brought to her knees by losing her husband. She hoped that perhaps, she had done something similar for Severus.

Molly stepped into the public toilet, wrinkling her nose at the stink. She fired off a refreshing charm before Apparating with a crack. Appearing in the Burrow's back garden, she went inside and made herself a cup of tea. The children were all off at work or school. It was only a few weeks until Ginny and Hermione graduated from Hogwarts (from their seventh and repeat seventh years, respectively). Molly's eyes drifted to her clock, where the family's pictures all pointed to various places. Everyone was fine. But her eyes didn't leave the empty hand, where Arthur's picture had been. She shook her head to herself again, and tried to think of something else. Then she stood, determination written in her face. She fetched Errol and addressed an invitation to tea to Evan Prince of Cokesworth.

**

TIME LAPSE
**

Severus watched with morbid fascination at an, what must have been a century old, owl, with fur tinged with gray, splat against his kitchen window.

"My window was not that clean," Severus exclaimed, muttering profanities about the stupid owl as he retrieved the owl and brought it to the kitchen to revive the bird. "Who do you belong? I haven't gotten an owl in a year." He pulled off the parcel, paling when he saw "Evan Prince" written in cursive script. "She really did it. We're not friends." Sighing, he dropped the letter down, prepared the necessary ingredients for a remedy for Errol, and as the potion brewed he comforted himself with some tea and read Molly's invitation.

"Tea," mused Severus, eying his own mug of Earl Gray as if sharing an inside joke with the hot beverage. "A former housewife and former Hogwarts professor have tea. Certainly a stranger idea has been thought up." Nonetheless, Severus took out a notebook and pen, having ran out of parchment since his disappearance, and penned a letter. He did, after all, make a promise to Molly, and Severus, despite his flaws, keeps his promises.

Molly, tea sounds good. Severus stopped, tapping the ballpoint pen on the table. I know a nice teashop near my place. He furrowed his brow. Sincerely, Evan. PS Your owl is very old. He hit my window. I am reviving him.

TIME LAPSE

Molly showed up at the teashop right at 4 o'clock, their appointed time. She had of course worn Muggle clothes for the occasion - nothing fancy, but nice all the same. Scanning the tables, she saw that Severus hadn't yet arrived.

"Excuse me," she said to the girl behind the counter. "I'm meeting a friend. If you see a man with long black hair in his late thirties, who seems to be waiting for someone, please tell him I've just run to the loo." Molly did use the loo, and she also took care to brush her hair out. There was no harm in looking nice, after all, even when meeting a former Death Eater with a secret identity. She came out, and the girl behind the counter pointed her toward the outside tables.

"Just out there, ma'am. You have interesting taste. Can't say he's my type - not very handsome, is he? - but there is something intriguing about him, isn't there?"

"No, dear, you're completely mistaken," Molly demurred. "We're just friends."

The infuriating girl winked. "No judgment. I like my men young too. Us cougars got to stick together." Flushed and flustered now, Molly marched outside, wondering how young a girl like that could possibly go for.

"Good afternoon." Greeted Severus, before taking a seat.

"Hm...? Yes, good afternoon." Molly plopped herself down. Dear Merlin, had that girl said something to him?

"How have you been," Severus inquired after a few minutes of silence. The girl had not said anything. Severus' shortness stemmed from not being used to having tea with acquaintances or friends. The last time was with Minerva as they schemed against Delores Umbridge.

Molly tried not to make eye contact with the grinning girl, who had somehow endeavored to get out from behind the counter to take their orders. "I'm... passable, Evan. It's nice to get out of the house; to have someone to talk to who understands, a little. How are you doing? Have you been all right, since you...left? Green tea for me, please."

"Where's Ava?" He asked the girl. Severus was a regular customer and found the waitress Ava to be remarkable company.

"Ava's at a baby shower or bridal... I'm not sure," she said.

"What a shame. She was going to tell me about Joseph, no Jack," he waved at the thought dismissively. He could care less on whom Ava the Waitress' new boyfriend was. "I will take earl gray." The girl, while suppressing a grin, left the pair to prepare their orders. "I am doing fine. I should've left a long time ago." He trailed off, wondering what could have happened if he left after Hogwarts and never overheard the prophecy.

Molly waited until she was sure the girl had gone, and then dropped her voice. "That seems rather unfair to yourself. Harry says You-Know- that Voldemort very well might have won if it wasn't for you." She laughed under her breath. "He comes Dumbledore to a general, and you to his most trusted master of espionage."

"If I wasn't foolish, I could've ended this war before it begun," Severus said in the same hushed, severe tone. "Trust me when I say, I should have left."

"Don't hex me for this," Molly said with a smile, "but you remind me of Harry. He takes far too much responsibility for things that aren't always in his control, too."

"That's insulting," Severus said, a snarl at the ready yet he broke out in a grin. In an attempt to hide it, he took a drink from the tea. "You remind me of Lily Ev - Potter. She will tell me to stay away and to leave whatever alone." He set his tea back down, staring wistfully in the inside. Back then, he did not listen to her and as a result lost the only friendship that meant something.

"I would like it if you would tell me more about Lily," Molly said. She had nothing but respect for the woman she thought of as Harry's first mother, but she knew so little about her. "I promise not to tell Harry if you don't want me to," she added, seeing the reserve in Severus' face. "I would just like to hear about her."

Severus stood up abruptly; Molly looked bewildered praying that she did not say anything wrong. She knew how it felt to lose someone and the damage it causes when someone brings up the beloved with no warning.

"Are you coming," Severus asked, extending his arm out as if he were a pureblood wizard raised in a pureblood family. "I can't talk about Lily here... too public. We can go to my home and if it helps, tell me about Arthur too."

"I will like that," Molly said, rising up and taking his arm unknowingly creating a great love story.

TIME LAPSE

"Mum's dating someone," Fred announced one day at a Weasley family dinner.

"Whatever got you thinking that," his mother asked with a perplexed look drawn on her face.

"This," Fred threw a letter, written on muggle notebook paper, on the table. His siblings, and their respective partners, leaned over toward the evidence.

"Evan Prince," Ginny read the letter, having snatched up the letter first. "What kind of letter is this – Is he muggle?"

"I am not dating anyone, Fred," Molly said, her face pallid at the thought of Severus' secret being revealed to her children. "Evan's a friend and yes we met in the muggle world."

"His handwriting is familiar," Harry said, reading Evan's note over Ginny's, his girlfriend, shoulder.

"The Half-Blood Prince, Harry," Hermione exclaimed, "That's Professor Snape's handwriting!"

TIME LAPSE

"Oi, Evan, can you show me how to do a proper 'downward dog,'" George grinned, a glint in his eyes.

"Bet all that yoga makes you really flexible, eh Prince Charming," Fred said, an identical grin on his own face.

Then they remembered that Severus was dating their mother. They turned a sickening green, their taunts silenced, and they fled.