Chapter 123: Two Wrongs and One Right

{A/N: Here's Another Update...long awaited but here it is...}

My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S

{"...I try not to think...About the pain I feel inside...Did you know you used to be my hero?...All the days you spent with me...Now seem so far away...And it feels like you don't care any more...And now I try hard to make it...I just want to make you proud...I'm never gonna be good enough for you...I can't stand another fight...And nothing's all right...'Cause we lost it all...And nothin' lasts forever...I'm sorry I can't be perfect...Now it's just too late...And we can't go back...I'm sorry..."} Perfect, Simple Plan

The Potter Residence, The Burrows, Wizarding World...

Another chilling night terror and Harry Potter had been up all night pacing the sitting room of his empty house for a good two hours before he finally decided enough was enough. The green eyed wizard got dressed and grabbed his wand. He stepped out into the crisp late night air and disapparated from his home. Ginny had been staying over at her parents house since the new of his attempted murder of Snape broke. He had not known what would happen to his marriage in the wake of what occurred all those years ago, and his children had been away at Hogwarts. The silence had been deafening as he made his way toward Muggle London England.

The flight had not been a bad one as Harry Potter touched down in the average little neighborhood and made his way up to Snape and Hermione's flat. He had known where Hermione had lived since the end of the second wizarding war but dared not venture for fear of retribution from her. Ginny had been frequently visiting the Snapes and had often comeback more or less her old self as a result. She refused to speak with him and Lily hardly ever looked his way, but he was glad that his wife and his former best friend were on speaking terms again.

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The Snape Residence, Muggle London, England...

Steeling himself as he summoned his Gryffindor courage, Harry Potter took a breath and knocked on the front door to the Snape residence. He shifted his weight rather uneasily from one foot to the other as he awaited someone to open it. He had not been sure that they would given the late hour of his arrival or that it had been him they could see from the peephole.

Much to Harry's shock and relief, the sound of locks twisting and clicking had gotten his attention from the weight of his guilt and self loathing. The rather thick front door opened to find Harry face to face with the man whom he had wronged sixteen years prior following the events of the final battle against Voldemort.

"Mr. Potter." said the familiar deep baritone drawl of Severus Snape, thick with sleep. "To what do I owe the displeasure of having you at my home especially given the late hour?"

Harry fiddled with his fingers, it had been years since he had been this nervous about anything, the years passed had saw him become a grown man and a father, yet in the sight of his old Potions Professor he was merely a little boy of twelve again.

"I-I...I apologize about the hour Professor." said Harry trying to keep his voice even.

Snape sighed taking pity upon the younger wizard.

"Well you are here, you may as well come in." he said opening the door wide enough to allow Harry inside his flat.

Harry nodded and tentatively stepped inside. The immediate warmth from not only the fireplace but from the family atmosphere had taken him by surprise. He never would have expected such a thing from someone like Snape.

The Potions Master closed and locked the front door behind him.

"W-Where's Hermione?" asked Harry looking about at the decorations and numerous family photos that lined the walls.

Snape whom had been clad in ebony pajama pants and a white muggle t-shirt depicting some classic English punk rock band. Hermione had intended it as a joke when she bought him the shirt but he ended up being a real fan of their music.

"My wife, like so many other's at this hour is resting." replied Snape making his way over to his bar, he made himself a drink and out of courtesy made one of Harry as well. "Have a seat Potter."

The green eyed wizard had been grateful when Snape handed him a glass of firewhiskey as he sat down on the Snapes' sofa. It had taken the Potions Master by surprise when Harry immediately downed it in a bid to calm his nerves.

There had been silence between them as Snape sat in his favorite armchair. His obsidian eyes watching the dim embers of the fireplace as they danced along the charred wood.

"You have yet to tell me what brought you to my home at this late hour." said Snape turning his attention back to Harry.

The green eyed wizard twisted the glass between his cooled palms.

"I-I know sir." he replied still with the evident trembling of that young boy whom attended Hogwarts his first year. "A-And I've been meaning to get around to it...but."

"But?" asked Snape in his usual inquisitive fashion.

"But I've never known what to say...I-I still don't know what to say to you." replied Harry sadly.

"I suppose there are better ways to avoid night terrors." said Snape observing the younger wizard.

Harry's eyes widened.

"H-How did?" he began.

"You think you are the only one that suffers from them?" asked Snape. "As far as I am concerned Potter, you and I are dead even."

Harry arched an eyebrow at this.

"E-Even?" he asked.

Snape sighed sitting back in his armchair nursing his own glass of firewhiskey.

"As you may recall, there were certain conditions for my service to Dumbledore." he said looking at the swirling dark liquid as it moved about the glass. "Those conditions made it much easier to see to your welfare at the wars end."

"A-Are you talking about my parents?" asked Harry.

"I am." replied Snape not taking his eyes off the swirling drink.

It seemed to be a lot easier to look at the glass than in this young wizard's emerald green eyes.

"I once had a certain...attachment to your mother." admitted Snape still focused on the glass. "And of course I hated your father."

Harry nodded recalling as much from his time as Snape's student.

"But hate him as I might, I did not wish for his death." continued the Potions Master. "And I would have thrown myself into the very bowls of hell before I would ever wish for Lily to die."

Snape looked Harry in the eyes at the mention of his mother. The younger wizard nodded believing him.

"I was the one that relayed the partial information of the Prophecy to the dark lord." Snape went on. "And by doing so I ensured their fate would be sealed much quicker than it would have had I not said anything...but I begged them both to reconsider...the dark lord and Dumbledore..."

Harry's eyes widened.

"D-Dumbledore?" he asked. "Dumbledore knew about it?"

Snape nodded.

"Of course he did." he replied. "I begged him to save all of you...yes even your father."

Harry had been stunned by what he was being told. He had always believed that Snape wanted his father dead. That he had hated his parents so much for what happened when they were children.

"I-I thought you were...I had just watched you kill Dumbledore." said Harry realizing the true extent of how wrong he had been about Snape. "I-I didn't know...I was just so angry."

To his surprise Snape simply sighed.

"We are not so different it seems." he said.

Harry looked the Potions Master in the eyes.

"No." he said. "We are different...when you realized what was happening you tried to stop it...you tried to make amends and despite everything even my behavior you did...but when it came to what I did to you...I was a coward...I hid behind Dumbledore and my family when I knew what I did to you was wrong...I watched your wife change from a promising young woman filled with hope and love into a bitter lonely shell while I enjoyed my own happiness."

Snape got out of his chair and poured another drink.

Harry got to his feet as well.

"I-I was quite angry with you." admitted the green eyed wizard. "Not just because you were a git...but because you seemed to pay more attention to Draco and your Slytherins than me...no matter what I did...I...I could never seem to make you proud...why that mattered the most to me despite all the attention and praise from everyone else around me I will never know."

Snape took a sip from his glass.

"I was proud of you Potter...Harry." he said looking the boy in the eyes. "You were just to busy looking for my faults to notice."

Harry nodded.

"I suppose I was." he replied. "But you didn't make overlooking your faults easy."

"And yet my wife accomplished the impossible." replied Snape.

"Yeah." said Harry with a hint of a smile. "I guess she did."

The green eyed wizard walked over to Snape.

"I-I am sorry that I tried to kill you." said Harry meeting his former Professor gaze as he extended his hand.

"And I apologize for my part in what happened to your parents." replied Snape shaking the younger wizard's hand.

As the two wizards conversed, they were joined by Sidney Snape whom had ventured into the sitting room.

"Papa?" said Sidney with an inquisitive look on his face. "Who's this guy?"

Harry had not really gotten use to Snape being a father. It had still been something of a shock to know that he and Hermione had been married all this time and that they had other children.

"Sidney what are you doing out of bed?" asked Snape turning his attention to his youngest son.

"I-I had a strange dream...and then I heard you talking to this guy." replied the younger Snape boy. "It he Harry Potter, the one that hurt you?"

Harry felt his guilt creep back.

"This is indeed Harry Potter." replied Snape tussling his son's seemingly untamed hair. "He was my former student and one of your mother's very best friends."

"But is he the one that hurt you?" asked Sidney not taking his eyes off Harry.

The green eyed wizard had noted this boy seemed to carry his mother's personality.

"Well...that depends." replied Snape honestly. "It seems that I've hurt him first."

Sidney looked Harry over and then walked up to the elder Gryffindor wizard.

"Papa is a good wizard, Potter." he said. "You had no right to hurt him."

Harry nodded understanding the innocent scolding he was receiving from Snape and Hermione's child.

"I-I know that now." replied Harry. "I was just apologizing for being such an insensitive git when I should have been understanding."

Sidney studied Harry for a moment before he broke out into a smile.

"Well that's a start." he said sweetly. "See you later Uncle Harry."

Harry looked over at Snape who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"No idea." he said echoing his words to Dolores Umbridge back at Hogwarts.

Sidney turned his attention to Snape.

"You'd better get your rest Papa." he said to his father. "Mommy isn't going to like you being tired in the morning."

With that the little Snape went off to bed. Snape shook his head. It was very clear that Sidney took after his mother. Harry took his leave of his former Professor and apparated home as well. The weight of his guilt had seemed to lessen since his visit with Snape.

The Potions Master shut and locked the front door. He turned to head back into the bedroom only to find himself face to face with his very sleepy bushy haired wife.

"Where did you go?" she asked. "The bed's gotten cold without you."

Snape smiled and lead her back into their shared bedroom.

"Just taking a moment..love." he replied. "I didn't want to disturb you."

He closed their bedroom door behind them careful not to disturb his sleeping daughter as she continued to dream in her crib near their bed.

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The Burrows, Wizarding World...

Harry Potter stood in the center of the open field just in front of his house. It had been an empty house but he was confident it would be filled again. His children were older but if a death eater like Severus Snape could find happiness, then it wasn't too far out of his reach. The green eyed wizard smiled when he entered his home thinking back to the afternoon he found out that Hermione and their Potions Professor had been married. In hind sight, he could tell even then that the bushy haired witch and the bat of the dungeons had a seemingly unshakable bond even if they had not known about it themselves.