A/N: I apologize for the late update. I have some health and family problems going on that is affecting my ability to write. I do update my profile consistently so if you're ever curious what's going on, that's likely where you can find out.

Xxxx

Harry threw the Gryffindor blankets off him in frustration. Oh, how he desired to stay cuddled in the warm confines of his bed for another two hours, but no. Professor Snape had sent him a letter the evening before, "insisting" on Harry's presence at 6 the following morning. There had been no explanation, only the command, and certainly no way out of it.

Harry hadn't done anything. He had been spared the wrath of his professor in yesterday's class, had only earned a glare rather than a lecture. He hadn't been given detention in any of his classes. There was simply no reason for the potions professor to request him.

He stuffed his legs into the black pants of his uniform with a grumble. His eyes fell on the curtains of Ron's bed with similar irritation. Ron had been equally outraged by the letter, had complained that it was unfair, but he wasn't the one up before the sun. No, Harry could still hear him snoring behind the velveteen curtains.

He did up the buttons of his shirt, remembering Hermione's reasoning. "If you were in trouble he would have said so. He's probably concerned about your studies." Bollocks. Snape didn't give a damn about anything in Harry's life if it didn't affect him. Snape would be perfectly happy if Harry failed out of Hogwarts as long as Snape could mock him as he sulked from the castle.

Harry's red and gold tie was tightened around his neck, his feet had slid into his worn trainers, and his arms into his cloak. He ignored the mess that was his hair. It was uncontrollable any way. He had been awake for all of five minutes and was already in a bad mood. He took one last, longing glance at his bed before storming quietly out of the room and past the other four, sleeping boys.

The corridors were silent, not a soul in the castle was awake except perhaps him and his professor. Snape seemed to be awake at all hours of the night. Always prowling the corridors looking for wrong doers – or maybe just Harry. It was ironic that Snape had permitted him to be out in the corridors this early when he had nearly busted him a dozen or so times before. Harry smirked at the thought, giving the letter tucked into his robes a pat. He wasn't stupid enough to wander the castle so brazenly without proof it was allowed.

He continued down the many staircases, descending past the sleeping portraits and the violet lit windows without fully paying attention to where he was going. He remained on auto pilot. No longer needing to pay attention to find the potions classroom. Instead his mind was wrapped up in possibilities of what was to come, if he was in trouble.

He approached the heavy door, yanking on the handle and allowing himself inside.

"Potter." Came a familiar sneer. Harry met the man's eyes in exasperation. Instead of the cold, calculating, depths of black staring back at him, he found that Snape's eyes had softened slightly. A flicker of unfamiliar warmth shown through them. Not because of Harry's presence, he was sure of it. Purple circles hung beneath Snape's eyes and he seemed positively exhausted. Even his hair seemed greasier than usual.

"I haven't done anything." Harry insisted, hoping he could worm his way out of whatever punishment he had incurred.

Snape stood straighter. "Your outrage is unnecessary." He pushed himself from the desk he had been leaning against, his wand sliding into his hand. In response, Harry removed his as well. If this was an attack, he'd be prepared. He expected a snide comment, a retort of some kind. Instead, Snape gave him an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "Follow me."

Harry's brows came inward at the two words. They were so different than what he had been expecting. The grip on his wand relaxed and he did as he was told, following Professor Snape from the office and back into the corridor he had just come from.

Snape locked his office without so much as a glance towards Harry. Why had he asked Harry for him to come there just to go somewhere else? He kept the question to himself, following the bat like man further down the dungeon corridor, walking several spaces behind the billowing cloak. They walked in the direction of what Harry knew to be the Slytherin common room. Snape reached the false wall behind which the house of Slytherin was hidden. He was half concerned that was their destination when they continued further, stopping at an inconspicuous section of stone a few meters past it.

As Snape paused in front of it, the stones that comprised the wall began to shift, to rearrange themselves and reveal a door that Harry had never known to exist. A click sounded, signaling it had been unlocked. Snape's hand was placed on the knob, but instead of turning it and allowing the both of them inside, he faced Harry instead.

Something about his expression made Harry uneasy. Before he could form an opinion, the usual icy glare returned, and Snape spoke. "What you're about to see doesn't leave this room. You are not to tell your little friends, understood?"

Harry gave a hesitant nod, unsure what he was agreeing too or if he actually did. As if the morning couldn't have been more complicated.

The door was pushed inward, revealing what could only be the man's living quarters and heightening Harry's confusion. He stepped into the far too intimate space. It was unnerving to have proof of his professor being a human being, not simply something that disappeared when out of Harry's view. Of course, he had always known such a thing, but to see it was different. "Profress-?" Harry began when a trembling, feminine voice interrupted him.

"Harry."

He turned in the direction of her, registering that it was vaguely familiar, but unable to place why. His eyes fell on a red headed, overly thin woman. She held a gentle smile, as if she was afraid of his reaction, and her eyes, his eyes. He looked between her and Snape, trying and failing to form words. Perhaps Malfoy had slipped him something, caused him to hallucinate. That could be the only explanation.

He glanced behind her, excepting the appearance of someone else. If it was truly his mum, not just someone who looked like her, surely his dad would be there too?

"Harry." She repeated again with slightly more nerve than before. Neither of them quite sure how to continue the conversation.

"I was unaware of her survival until yesterday evening." Snape broke the growing tension.

His voice sparked something in Harry, a different kind of confusion than before. Why here? Why were they together?

"Mum?" Harry croaked, his throat having gained the texture of sandpaper. "Is that…is it really you?" He wanted to approach her, to hug her, to assure himself that she was real, but what if she wasn't? What if the simple brush of skin broke the incantation? What if he was jerked back to a reality, he now wasn't sure he could face? He'd dreamed of his parents before and had been heartbroken all the same when he had awoken, but none of them had been as vivid as this.

Xxxx

Mum. He had called her mum. Her throat grew tight at those three simple letters, her eyesight had gone blurry. "It's me, it's really me." The words were said not just to reassure him, but her as well. She rubbed absentmindedly at her wrists. Severus had healed the welts her bindings had left there, but part of her didn't believe she had been freed.

Not only had she been freed, she had been given back her son. The boy that for years she had thought about, had worried about, and now he was here almost as perfect as when she had left him. His scar was the hint that he had lived a less than ideal life.

He was James. The resemblance had been there when he was a toddler, but now it was uncanny. It was as if she'd been thrust back into her own fourth year, the only difference between them being Harry's vibrant, green eyes.

She glanced again at Severus, who looked entirely unhappy to be there. His arms had been crossed over his chest and a frown had settled on his face. She wondered for the first time about the relationship between him and her son.

"Severus, can you give us a moment?"

A glimmer of annoyance passed through his expression and his arms were dropped in exasperation. It was clear he was uncomfortable about this situation, but why she wasn't sure. "Potter, this is my home, you would do well to remember that." He turned before either of them could answer, the door rattling in the door jamb as it was slammed behind him, causing both Lily and Harry to stare in its direction.

"Can I?" She stepped forward tentatively, nervous he would say no. Harry seemed almost as apprehensive as Severus had and it pained her. Using what occlumency skill she had, she blocked out the nagging thoughts that told her she wasn't needed, that Harry had lived this long without her. Thoughts that had been forced on her for so long. She steadily grew closer until her arms were around him. He was frozen beneath her touch at first before melting beneath her warmth, the motherly embrace.

He smelled slightly of sweat, of teenage boy. His pale skin soft against hers and his head at her shoulder. He was thin. Smaller than she had ever remembered James being, but perhaps he took more after her in that aspect. Sirius would never neglect him.

"Mum." He said, his voice barely more than a breath, sounding out the name that was so new to both of them.

"Harry." She repeated, pulling back so she could look at him. "Harry, Harry, Harry." For years she had said the name to herself, it was one of the few things that had kept her sane. His name had lost all meaning from overuse, sounding more like a jumble of letters rather than anything important. Now she had a face, a teenage face to attach it to, no longer fleeting images of him as an infant. With him in front of her, it sounded more like the name she had loved so long ago.

"How's Sirius? Is he treating you well?"

A broad grin stretched across his face, revealing white, even teeth. "Yeah." He gave a nod and she couldn't help but smile back. She had had her reservations about Sirius when she and James had chosen the man as Harry's guardian, but the happiness on his face diminished all worry.

"James-" Her voice cracked slightly. That wasn't a name she had said aloud over the years. She had always assumed the worst, never really knowing. It hurt even more now that she had learned of his fate for sure. "-your father and I." She continued, forcing what little smile she could. "Thought he would be best to raise you in the event that we…It's nice to see we weren't wrong." The broad grin of before faltered. Harry tried to conceal it, but she had noticed the change. "What? What is it?"

"Sirius didn't…" He trailed off, his mouth remaining open, but only silence continuing from it. Harry shook his head. "You've missed a lot. Maybe Severus can fill you in." The name was filled with such disgust that she wasn't sure if she should laugh or be horrified, but it was true, she knew nothing. Whether it was these ones or that of the Dark Lord's headquarters, she had been consistently trapped within walls, having seen little of the outside world and knowing even less.

"You…you don't like him, do you?" She forced, keeping her mind on the present and the messy, black haired boy in front of her.

Harry shook his head vehemently, as if there'd ever been a doubt. "Can't say I'm his biggest fan either."

"Harry-"

"Where were you?" He interjected. "How are you alive?"

Her eyes were dropped from his face, instead falling to the white trainers sticking out from beneath his black robes. "It doesn't matter." Even if she knew the answers to those questions, she couldn't give them. It was too painful.

"And here? Why are you here?" His arms gestured wildly around them, his eyes wide with interest.

"Severus and I decided it'd be best if I wasn't seen. A trip to his office-"

"No, I mean here, with him?"

There was a look of hurt in his eyes, as if he'd expected her to apparate directly to Gryffindor tower, to pop in front of him as if the last 13 years hadn't happened. She was silent for a moment, deciding on the best possible words. There was an unspoken, yet intense dislike between her…friend, if she could call him that, and her son, and she didn't want to hurt Harry further. "I trust him."

"Trust him? Do you know who he is? The rumors about-"

She held her hand up and his words slammed to a halt. "Harry, I'm not the only one who has been kept in the dark." She wanted to say more, to convince him that Severus wasn't bad, but she knew it would only be an attempt at convincing herself. She knew what he was, could image the things he had done under the Dark Lord's orders. She knew that the fact Severus was here, under Dumbledore's supervision meant something as well. Her head began to throb. There were too many things she didn't know the answer to. Too many questions she didn't want to ask. Right now, she couldn't ask any of them.

"Harry, I've missed you. I just want to get to know the son I always should have. Can…can we do that? Discuss the rest later?"

Harry stared back at her before lifting the left corner of his lips into a lopsided smile that reminded her of James and breaking her heart further. "Okay."