Disclaimer : The ownership of the series still belongs to Rowling.

________________

Lily watched silently from the bed. The moonlight illuminated the gloomy room. She laid still, captivated by the site before her eyes. Severus sat in her wooden rocking chair with Eileen bundled up in his arms. She studied his features, his eyes glowing with warmth. A small almost no existent smile on his lips. His face was softer then Lily had seen it. There was a calmness between them in the darkness she had never felt before. During the days Snape would steer clear of her and the baby but during the nights he would sit for hours with her. Lily pretend she didn't know that he spent hours watching the child sleep. She let him think that he was detached from the situation.

That he wasn't growing attached to Eileen.

Lily smiled at the pair. Her baby girl who would scream the house down for hours but the second Severus took her she was instantly calm, still, at peace.

Lily barely remembered her guilt when she saw them together. Somehow over the pass few months they had become a family. Dysfunctional but it felt right. It may have been built on lies but a unbreakable bond was forming between them. Lily knew no man could ever replace James but when she saw Severus with Eileen she found herself wondering.

Maybe they could be more.

He could be more then shelter and safety. They could be a real family. Each could play their part.

But she knew it was just a dream.

Severus was barely around and was he was he avoided her. She sighed closing her eyes. There were so many possibilities that could never become reality. There was so much that could go wrong. She didn't even know where he went all day and most nights. She was beginning to wonder if the man ever slept. Who had he become. Who had the boy who lived on her block become? Was he part of the group that murdered her Husband and first born child?

Was he the villain?

----------

"Where are you going?" Lily shifted the baby in her arms.

Snape froze in the door way.

She had broken the unwritten rule between them. She never asked and he never told. Their silence was the only thing saving them both from breaking.

She wasn't ready to hear it, and he wasn't ready to tell her. He knew she couldn't handle it just yet. She had been always been a strong woman. A fighter.

And he had watched her shatter apart.

It killed him that James potter could cause this kind of reaction in her. He was her world, her heart, her soul. He wanted her so badly it hurt. He ache for her love in return but it was too late. Her love belonged to a dead man. He would never live up to James Potter's memory. He could never be her world, even if he wanted to be. The only thing keeping her together was the bundle of life in her arms, not him.

"Out."

He slammed the door, shutting out his feelings.

Shutting out her.

----------

Snape knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to double cross Voldemort. He knew the danger. He knew the risk. He would do it for Lily, he would do it for her baby Eileen.

He never thought this is the path his life would take. He never saw himself sitting before the order of the phoenix being judged like he was on trail. He snarled at a passing comments thrown at him.

"Is this really how the opposing power spends their time? Trying to undermine the few who actually do something for the cause." He snarled. " Maybe I should take my leave."

There was a hint of malice in his voice that stilled the room.

"Severus please sit down." Dumbledore asked politely. Snape's eyes narrowed. He refused to take the free seat beside the Prewett brothers and Edgar Bones. He moved across the room sitting next to the more shifty of characters in the order, Mundungus Fletcher and Sturgis Podmore.

"Well now we are all here, let us begin." He smiled brightly at the Order.

" ' The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.'"

They all sat silently as the prophecy echoed out in the night. It was like the darkness, sinking into every pour. Slowly swallowing them all whole.

"We have a problem."

Albus broke the silence with few words. It was enough to break the silent spell cast over the room.

"The prophecy child still lives."

Gasps and murmurs broke out across the room. The noise level increased to cries of anger and disbelief.

"But Arry's dead. I pulled his body from the rubble myself." Hagrid sniffed loudly.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "It seems there are possibilities we missed. People we over looked."

"Who?" Dorcas Meadows demanded to know. "Was it the Longbottom boy after all?"

"I don't know for sure, there is a chance, slim but still." It was clear to Severus, that Dumbledore was holding something back.

"Who else do you have in mind?" Emmeline Vance asked softly.

"All in due time. Now if you'll excuse me I must speak with Severus."

Snape's heart jumped in his chest at he rose steadily to his feet sweeping out the door behind the headmaster.

They moved into an empty room, silent spells flew rapidly from Dumbledore's wand. Severus stood like stone as the Headmaster secured the room.

"I need you to see someone for me Severus. I need information, I need the best, you."

"Who?"

"She is a seventy five year old woman in a nursing home." Dumbledore eyes burned. "She is Tom Riddle's mother, her name is Merope Gaunt ."

An. I Hope you all have a Merry and Jolly good Christmas. :)