Disclaimer: I do not own the character Severus Snape or the concept of Hogwarts. Snape is portrayed as a more sympathetic character. This chapter contains loss of family and a characters depression as a result. (More at the end).


The Wallis' owned a large complex in muggle London. Severus arrived in the middle of the day, so had opted out of any billowing robes. A young neighbor girl had seen him approach the house, and immediately thought he was a posh professor of some sort.

When Snape stepped up to the door, he felt the barrier close around him. From the street the house had looked quite ordinary, but now he could see that the Wallis' liked to trellis magical plants along the walls and at the windows. A potted tentacular plant snapped to attention when he rang at the door.

A young house elf tentatively answered, opening the door just an inch, "Can I help you, sir?"

"I was sent by Kingsley Shackelbolt, my name is Severus Snape."

The door flew wide, "Oh please come in, sir! Please!"

Severus stepped through the threshold and found the house in perfect order. He saw three more house elves peeking from another door, "Mister Shackelbolt told us you would be coming." The one that had answered seemed very young and animatedly continued, "Oh, please help our young miss, sir. She's just up this way."

Snape looked around as he followed the elf, nothing at all seemed out of place, thanks to the house elves no doubt. But as they reached the top of the stairs, the house elf suddenly stopped.

"Young miss is the last door on the left, sir. None of us dare go near her - only to deliver food and we try to clean - she keeps trying to give us clothes, sir!"

Snape just nodded and strode to the door. He knocked a few times, and was greeted by some profuse cursing.

Severus looked back down the hall and found several house elves peering over the last step at him. With a heavy sigh, he entered the room. He was surprised it was unlocked, but even more surprising was the absolute chaos of the space. Clothes and furniture were thrown around, and full plates of food littered the ground. The curtains were drawn, and the whole space was dark. He ignored the smell.

Snape eyed the lump of blankets on the bed. From it's depths came Morgan's croaky voice, "Leave me here to die. Merlin be damned!" A shirt came flying at him.

"It's Severus."

There was a long moment of silence. The lump moved, and out came Morgan, looking horribly thin and unkempt. Her top hung loosely around her frame and her eyes were red, the skin sunken. She stared at him for a long time, before pulling a blanket back over her, and settling back into the mattress.

"I'm glad you're alive. Now, please leave."

Snape approached the bed, and gingerly sat beside the mound. "I'm sorry," his voice was quiet, "I'm sorry, Morgan."

"Please," came her muffled voice, "Please, just leave me here."

"I can't," Snape sat quietly for a while, it felt like hours. "I lost the most important person in my life during the first war." His voice was so quiet, he could barely hear himself.

Morgan pulled the blankets from her face, staring up at the ceiling. "How did you get over it?"

"I never really did."

They couldn't face each other. Snape stared off into a corner, trying to find the words, and Morgan stared at a thin line of light at the window, trying to listen.

"I held onto her, all these years, in her son. Everyday I reminded myself about her. I molded my whole life around the...idea of her. Of us, being together." Finally Snape turned to Morgan and waited for her to meet his gaze, "I don't think I'll ever be redeemed. But, the people we love would want us to keep going, I think. To fix things."

"There's nothing to fix," Morgan spat, "My family ran because they didn't believe me that we could be safe. If they had just stayed. If I had been harder on them, protected them. They would still be here. I didn't join the Order to help the world, I did it to try and save my family. And I failed," her voice grew more hoarse as she spoke, "What could I possibly fix? They were cowards. And now they're dead."

Morgan's voice had raised bitterly at the end, until she had to turn away and cough. Severus watched her whole body shudder as she wheezed over the side of her bed.

"I only joined the Order to save her. To save Lily. I never would have betrayed Voldemort if not for her. I only helped her son because of her. I was willing to let her husband and son die, if it meant she would live. I kept going because I was trying to honor her memory, even though she hated me. Even though I was the one who shared the prophecy-"

Severus quickly grew silent, then sighed, "How did you know what would happen? How were you able to send me the replenishing potion and the port-key?"

"I could infer the likelihood," Morgan croaked, "The confrontation between Potter and Voldemort would most likely take place at Hogwarts. You would be there. Voldemort trusted no one and had a large, deadly snake. No one trusted you. No one would help you if you were injured. It was the anti-poison in the replenisher.

I didn't know if anything I sent would help. I just inferred."

They sat quietly for a long time.

"I don't hate my family," Morgan whispered, "I just don't know what to do without them."

Morgan turned away again. Snape took the opportunity to reach out and feel her forehead with the back of his hand. She was burning up.

"I'm not going to leave. At least not until you get better."

"I'd rather you leave."

"Well, that's too bad. I'm letting the elves in to clean, please refrain from threatening them."

Morgan watched through narrow eyes as Snape called down the hall and let the elves into the room. They hurried in, greeting her and giving her well wishes as they began to remove the dirty dishes and rearrange her furniture. Severus watched them and eyed Morgan for a few minutes, before disappearing into the bathroom.

Severus cleared the mess there himself and began to draw a bath. Morgan had rolled over and was staring at the curtains when he came to help her to the tub. She just lay there in the hot water, but when Severus began lathering soap into her hair and massaging her scalp, she finally seemed to relax.

"If you have trouble sleeping," Severus was rinsing her hair, "I can make a sleeping draught."

"There's a potion room downstairs, next to the kitchen." Her voice was still terribly raspy.

"Do you need help out?"

"No, I think I'll doze here."

Severus hesitated, but Morgan had not shown any worrying behaviors. He asked a passing elf to bring up some plain broth to Morgan's room, before finding the work room. Although it looked completely deserted, things were still quite neat.

As Severus retrieved the ingredients for the draught, he had the sudden realization that Morgan had quite a few rare products at her disposal. Once a cauldron was set to brew, he searched around for a while, and finally found an empty bottle labelled 'boomslang'. So, he smiled, she hadn't been lying entirely.

When he went back to her room, he was pleased to see the whole place spotless. The elves had also drawn the curtains, letting in the fading light. Morgan was still in the tub. Although she looked so frail, he was happy to see color returning to her skin.

He settled next to her, "I want to apologize for earlier. I'm not very...well, good, with comforting anyone."

"I think I just need a friend, Severus," Morgan kept her eyes closed, "I'm not ready to think of anything else. Could you ask Corke - he's the young excitable one - to bring something to eat? I finally feel famished. Tell him a roast or something."

"You'll have broth. I don't think your body can handle anything else just yet."

Morgan sighed and sank into the tub, until her chin was in the water, "Thank you, Severus."


Severus had Morgan on a strict schedule. She needed to eat and bathe and rest, and most of all, preoccupy her thoughts. Severus' mother always used to tell him that the best way to get over something was to keep busy. So he read the Daily Prophet to Morgan every morning, had her read literature to him after lunch, and made small talk over afternoon tea. He thought that he had never talked to anyone so much in his life.

The nights were the worst, so Snape took to reading to Morgan as she lay in bed. And slowly, over the next few weeks, she seemed to recover. He was glad to see her color return, and when she had more strength, she returned to her potion room and garden. The family bedrooms and parlor remained unused and actively ignored, Morgan remained fairly cold and very quiet.

One night, Severus was in the guest room, where he had set himself up, and was rifling through some papers. He nearly jumped when he saw Morgan watching him from the doorway.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked.

"You're late for our reading." Morgan murmured, her eyes following along the walls, before settling on the window behind Severus. Just behind the glass, shrivel figs were ripening on a crawling vine. He had told her he liked the way they looked and she had taken to growing them.

"Of course," Severus moved to put away his things, with Morgan waiting silently by the door.

"I think I need to leave." Morgan said into the quiet, "Maybe just for a few days."

When Severus looked up, he found Morgan's eyes glassy. Although her vision was blurred, she could see him approach and let herself be enveloped against him.

She gripped his arms, her full weight collapsing onto him. Serverus let her sink them them to the floor as she cried.


Severus was reading aloud from the Daily Prophet, but his eyes drifted over to where Morgan was standing near the window.

They had been spending the last few weeks at his home in Spinner's End. The first few days had been the most lively, with Morgan going around fixing and cleaning the home he had so long neglected. But as the work dwindled, Morgan seemed to slow down, and would often just sit and listen to him read. Or, watch the town out the window. It was usually quite dreary, but as Christmas approached, a few people had strung up lights.

Severus was watching her as she quietly listened to him now. She had left their tea to steep on the table. He didn't realize he had stopped reading. She turned to look at him.

"I love you." He murmured.

Morgan froze.

"No, no that's..."

Morgan turned away and brushed the drapes further aside. Outside was gray - it could have been six in the morning or in the evening, it was difficult to say.

"I feel for you, Morgan." He was watching her carefully at the window, her back to him now, "But, I can't say that I love you. I'm sorry, I-

"I don't know where this is going." He was looking at Morgan, but felt like he could see through her and beyond. His vision was quickly blurring, and it wasn't until Morgan's hands were on him that he realized he was crying. He blinked back tears, trying to focus on her face above him, "I'm sorry, give me a minute." He pulled a kerchief from his pocket.

Morgan moved away, sitting in the seat opposite him. She looked around his parlor, before her eyes settled on his fireplace. There on the mantle was a photo of a red-headed woman. She knew it must have been Lily Potter. She had seen it immediately when Severus first brought her here and had gently wiped away the grime during her cleaning.

Finally Morgan met his gaze, "I never asked you how you were doing, Severus. Or about where you grew up. Or how you became a teacher. Or how you're finding the weather." She said and poured them both tea.

"I thought you hated banter?"

"Pointless banter. I want to know more about you. Friends know things like that about each other, don't you think."

Severus' smile was small, but Morgan realized she hadn't really seen him smile in a long time.

"This is the house I grew up in, actually." He said.

This time, Morgan smiled, and Severus was glad to see that it even touched her eyes.


Severus Snape and the concepts of this magical world belongs to J.K. Rowling / Warner Bros. Only Morgan Wallis and aspects of this character are original.