Severus woke up early the next day - a little too early; throughout the night his nightmare had simply refused to end.

He woke up four times and each time he closed his eyes again, the nightmare went on: Florence was married to Sirius Black and they had kids.

In the dream, Severus kept trying to talk to her, but she had her elf Tiffany repeatedly tell him she didn't talk to Death Eaters.

As a result, he'd had a horrible sleepless night, tossing and turning on his bed as he tried to think of something to make that nightmare go away – but nothing worked.

So, at five in the morning, he finally gave up sleeping, got up, put on some comfortable clothes and walked out of his room.

The house was quiet, not even Tiffany was up yet. The little elf slept soundly in a corner of the kitchen in a pretty bed she'd "found in the trash" in front of Florence's house.

He stood and watched the elf for a while. Tiffany had to be the cleanest and best-dressed house elf he had ever seen.

"Florence takes really good care of Tiff, doesn't she?" he heard his mother whispering behind him.

"Yes. If there has ever been a spoiled house-elf, that's Tiffany," he agreed, "And she's fiercely loyal."

"True," Eileen paused, going to the screened backyard porch to watch the snow fall.

Severus followed her and heard her say, chuckling: "Tiff doesn't like you."

"I know. She told me."

"Because you 'smell like trouble'. Those were her words," continued Eileen.

"She said I'm bad news for Florence."

"Are you?" Eileen asked, bringing back the previous night conversation.

"I don't want to be. But..."

"Spare me, Severus," Eileen stopped him, "I'm your mother, I'll be by your side no matter the stupidity you end up getting yourself into. You don't need to explain your reasons to me. Florence is the one who has to hear them and agree to live with them," Eileen looked at him, "But I can tell you I don't see her accepting being a Death Eater's wife."

Severus nodded, the nightmare coming fourth in his mind at his mother's words.

"I know."

Eileen and Severus sat to have breakfast and neither of them spoke, he couldn't stop thinking how bleak life turned out when Florence wasn't around, even the scrambled eggs Tiffany had perfectly cooked tasted unsalted, he couldn't even find it in himself the desire to eat another slice of the strawberry shortcake that he knew was also delicious.

Knocks on the front door had him jumping from his chair and running to open the door, his heart getting lighter when he saw her there on the porch.

"Florence," he breathed.

"Found your way home, I see," she sounded bitter.

He just stared at her, wanting to wrap her in his arms and carry her to his room, to kiss and touch her to erase that nightmare from his mind, to prove to himself she was still his. But he didn't do any of that; she looked angry enough already without him going all caveman on her.

"May I come in?" she asked.

Then Severus realized he had been blocking the door, so he moved, letting her walk into the house, and closed the door.

Eileen got up from the table to welcome Florence with a hug, "Hi, my dear. Missed you," she said as they hugged.

"Missed you too, godmother," Florence smiled, "I'll take my things upstairs," and she went to Eileen's bedroom.

Eileen looked at her son, "What will you do about this situation? I want to spend time with my goddaughter, I don't want Florence to go home."

"Neither do I."

"So do something!" She pointed upstairs.

And he went after his girlfriend.

Florence took her shrunk suitcase from her pocket and cast: "Crescendo." To turn her bag back to its original size.

"Mistress Florence!" shouted Tiffany apparating into the room and running to hug Florence's legs.

"Hi, Tiff. Have you been having a good time with my godmother?"

"Yes, Miss," she nodded, already opening up Florence's suitcase and taking the clothes out, "Mrs Snape is a very good lady."

Florence could sense there was a 'but', "Is something wrong?" she asked as she moved her wand to cast: "Vidulus vestzium transfigurare," and her empty suitcase turned into a pretty two-door white wardrobe.

"The Snape-boy," continued Tiffany, as she started to put Florence's clothes inside the freshly transfigurated wardrobe, "He's the reason my Mistress Florence didn't come here last night."

Florence couldn't lie to her loyal house-elf, so she confirmed: "Yes. The thing is, Tiff, Severus and I are a couple, but... he's been doing some things I don't agree to."

"He's working for Miss Florence's father, Tiffany whispered.

That caught Florence by surprise, "Yes. How do you know?"

"Mrs Snape. She talked to Tiffany of her worries about her son. Tiffany tells her he's not evil like Flor's father."

"Good to know you can feel that."

Sudden knocks on the door had Tiffany making a face, letting Florence know it wasn't Eileen behind the door.

"You can finish the clothes later, Tiff. Give me a moment with him."

And the elf disapparated as Florence opened the door to face her boyfriend.

"What do you want, Severus?"

"Can we talk?"

"We can. But will it make any difference?" she asked, walking back to sit on the bed.

He didn't reply, he just walked in and closed the door.

"I'm sorry for missing the feast yesterday," he began.

"Are you, really?" Florence looked at him, "I know you were inside the castle. I have a pretty good idea what you were doing."

"I finished the Draught of Despair."

"Never doubt you would. Does it work as you expected?"

"Yes."

She shook her head, "I wish I could congratulate you on that, but I know how your draught is going to be used so..."

"I was bottling it yesterday."

"That's what I thought. What will be the next one? Will you bottle the Cruciatus Curse for them?"

"I haven't got my next instructions yet."

"Your next instructions," she repeated with a disapproving glare, "So you won't stop working for them? You've already made your decision?"

"Why do I have to choose?" he asked, exasperated, "I can work for them and not take the Dark Mark!"

"Don't take me for a fool, Severus, we both know you don't believe that," she stood up, "Do you want to know what makes me even sadder? You could be using all your brilliance for something good. You could find a way to make a longer-lasting Wolfsbane Potion, or a better-tasting Skele-Gro – so it would be easier to get kids to drink it. You do have a goldmine – your mind is your goldmine! You don't need the Death Eaters! They need you!"

Severus frowned, he knew she was right – he could do a lot on his own, but he didn't have the means to put himself through the training necessary to get his Masters in Potions without working for the Death Eaters, not to mention he was already in too deep, he couldn't just stop working for them.

"I won't accept taking the Dark Mark. I don't want it," he wasn't fully lying.

Florence looked at him, sensing the half-truth, "You know I have no desire to live like them, Severus. I want a simple, normal life. I want a family. I wish to rebuild what I no longer have. I want to study Potions or Medicine somewhere; maybe teach at Hogwarts in the future, or open a clinic in Hogsmeade; I want to have children, marry the man I love… I just want to be happy," And not have to worry about my father murdering you while you work for him. She added to herself.

"I'll make you happy," he took two steps towards her.

"How? When we are arguing about the same thing every fortnight? If we are a couple, Severus, we must make decisions together, having in mind what is the best for both of us. But I can't live with the choices you want to make."

"I'll let Travers know I won't be getting the Dark Mark."

She looked at him in silence for a moment.

"You'll really refuse it?" she asked.

"Yes. Maybe they'll stop requesting work from me once they realize I'm not interested in committing fully."

Florence tried to sense if he was lying, but all she could feel were half-truths.

"Will you stop hanging out with Travers, Avery and others like them?" continued Florence, "Will you stop answering to the many letters the Blacks and the Malfoys send you?"

He looked astonished that she knew about the letters.

"I recognized the family crests, Severus. They teach Genealogy in Durmstrang."

"I will stop talking to them," he said.

Again Florence couldn't tell if he was lying or not, and before she could think a little longer, he closed the gap between them, wrapping his arms around her and taking her lips in a passionate kiss that she wasn't strong enough to resist.

After the nightmare he had had that night, Severus needed to make sure she was still his. Even if deep down he knew that they had less than a year and a half until their relationship's certain expiration date.

Christmas Eve

Florence and Severus were walking through the Godric's Hollow park, just enjoying a good quiet day as there were nearly no one outside, being that it was all covered by a few inches of snow.

"It's beautiful here in the winter," she said, walking very close to her boyfriend, his arm around her as they shared in each other's warmth.

Suddenly Florence gasped, "Severus! Look over there! Under our tree!"

There was a couple on the bench that had been added under the tree they usually sat under in the summer.

"But those are... Lily and James!" he replied, "And they are..."

"Kissing!" she exclaimed happily, "Let's go!" she took his hand and nearly dragged him towards the couple.

They stopped in front of them and Florence exclaimed: "What's going on here? The Prince of Gryffindor's finally found his princess?"

James laughed, "All thanks to the royal couple of the Slytherin House."

"Since when is this happening behind all of our backs?" Florence asked, feigning indignation.

"Oh, a long time," said James, pretending to check an invisible watch, "About fifteen minutes already!"

"It's a Christmas miracle," added Severus.

"You landing a girl like Florence is a miracle," replied James.

"I am so happy for you!" said Florence, hugging Lily. Then she turned to James, slapping his arm: "You'd better treat her right! Otherwise, I'll send some more bludgers your way – and it won't be during a Quidditch match."

Severus laughed but James looked, understandably, very concerned.