Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the characters, I am completing the story as I would like it written.

We Got Away

As he lay on the bed, Severus Snape was bored. He was tired of looking out the window. He was tired of the "do-gooders" who swept in. They aped platitudes and pretended to listen to his stuttering, sputtering attempts to speak. They nodded and then quickly left with empty promises to return. He had three regular visitors and a meddling Mediwitch named Poppy. He counted the leaves on the branch outside his window. He counted the apple blossoms. He could smell their delicate scent. But he could only count the things so many times. Today was a cloudy and misty day and he could smell the rain as well.

He was tired of hearing about the war dead. He mourned each and every one on both sides. The loss of the children was the biggest waste. They were an unfulfilled promise, a missing hope, and a lost dream. The loss of parents and grandparents who thought they were fighting for the right was the loss of the guidance of the remaining children. Who would reunite the nation? The Daily Prophet was a total waste of parchment and spouted drivel, rumors and grabbed headlines with yellow journalism. The Witch Weekly was nothing more than a glossy mirror of the Prophet with more pictures. The Quibbler was an interesting bit of fluff and if you could read between the lines, you could find truth. However, he sorely disliked being read to by one of the three meddling witches that seemed to invade his life.

He still could not move, his voice was weak. Damn it his mind was as sharp now as it had been when he was seventeen. He had the wisdom to know not to act on his impulses now, but he could not move.

Whoosh! He heard Cherry Almond's floo spring to life. He strained his ears to hear what was being said below. It was a male voice. "That cannot be Draco. He was going before the Wizengamot to be tried as a Death Eater today. Or was that yesterday? Yes, that is Draco's voice. Why is he here at his aunt's home? She has been blasted from the family tree of the Noble and Ancient House of Black. Draco's own mother has not talked to her for decades. I wonder what is going on."

Draco continued excitedly as he and Andromeda entered the sickroom. "I feel like I have cheated the hangman. Do you know who came and stood up for me? Harry The-Boy-Who-Continues-To-Live Potter! He pointed out that I had not given them away when the snatchers brought them to the Manor. Then, Ronald the Weasel just nodded and said that Harry was right. He didn't even call me names. I feel like I am on cloud nine." Andromeda nodded and motioned toward an easy chair.

"Draco was telling me about his trial," the witch stated and sat in the rocking chair across from him.

"Uncle Severus, I am so glad to see you alive. I didn't know that you had also cheated the grim reaper." Draco was grinning, "You cheated death and I cheated the prison system. The Golden Trio testified on my behalf. Not just mine but all of the Slytherin in our year. Can you fuckin' believe it?" He noticed Andromeda wince at his language. "Sorry, Aunt Andromeda. Mother says there are times I need to guard my tongue and be more respectful when I get excited."

Severus was watching a tableau that he had never seen before. He had never seen Draco so animated, so free. He seemed to be having an adrenalin rush, a high that only came from success. Severus then shifted his gaze to Andromeda. She was smiling at her nephew. He didn't even know if they had ever met before. "G-g-g-o o-o-on," the outsider in this conversation urged. Thunder crashed outside and a lightning bolt flashed across the window.

"Oh, Mother was released and only has six months house arrest, but can use magic. Father will be in Azkaban for ten years for aiding and abetting the enemy. Providing shelter and financial backing to traitor who was trying to overturn the government. When he gets out he will be without magic for a year. That really pi- irked him since he has been essentially without his wand for a year." Draco's mood shifted as he told how his parents had fared. "The first thing Mother did was owl Aunt Andromeda and ask for an audience. They met at the Manor yesterday and made her swear on her magic not to tell that you had survived until after my trial. Aunt Andromeda had told her that if I were to be freed and able to travel, she would like for me to come see you. She knew who would be speaking for me before I even did."

Severus cocked an eyebrow as if to ask, "And who, pray tell, was that?" He smirked and his eyes actually twinkled.

"Would you like something to drink? I thought I might lay in a light tea because Severus hasn't eaten all day." Andromeda rose from her chair, "He still sleeps most of the time. It is time for Teddy to get up from his nap. Yes, I hear him." She left the room without an answer to her questions and began cooing to the baby.

"Loo," Severus said when the witch had cleared the room.

"I thought she said you couldn't move," Draco replied.

"No! Can!" his godfather answered and looked pointedly at the night stand. The lightening flashed again as Draco stood and looked around the stand for something that could be used for a toilet. "Aha," he said as he retrieved an old fashioned "thunder mug". He moved slowly over to the elder wizard and was clearly embarrassed to perform the task. Draco fumbled the portable pot under the blanket and tried to look everywhere but where his help was needed. "Closer," was all the man said. Draco was removing the pot when Andromeda returned to the room.

She said, "Take it in the en suite and leave it by the commode. Then if you wash your hands, I will let you hold your cousin."

Draco hadn't even noticed the small baby she was holding until she mentioned him. "Sit in the rocker, Draco," she instructed. "It will be more comfortable. When I return with the tea tray I want to hear the rest of your story."

Draco looked down at the smiling baby with bright aqua hair. His eyes were gray, so common for the Black family members. He shook his head at the blue hair! "Did you know this?" Draco asked. "You know that the Dark, You-Know-Who, Volde, whatever you call him, told me that Lupin and Tonks had had a baby and told Bella to kill them. She did." Draco's voice faltered and a tear appeared in his eye. "He was the best Defense instructor we had until you. He didn't deserve to die like that. Tonks was just trying to save him. God that was love." Draco's voice trailed off, then he said, "Do you think I will still have to marry Tori or will I get a chance to love?" He kept talking to nobody in particular, "You would think that having a new lease on life would allow me to have a new LEASE on life."

"Tom," Severus said.

"What?"

"Name was Tom Riddle," Severus voice scratched out.

"Oh, why no wonder he hid his muggle name."

"Who has a muggle name?" asked Andromeda as she re-entered the room carrying a large tea tray. She set it down on the desk and asked if the men wanted her to pour.

"Black, two sugars, please," said Draco using his best "tea party" voice and manners like his mother had taught him.

Severus nodded and she poured him a cup of tea and added milk and one sugar. Then she added a splash of brandy. He grinned. She set Draco's cup and a small plate with two chocolate biscuits on it near him on the bedside table. She brought Severus cup with a flexible straw in it and helped him drink. He choked. She set the cup down and lifted the man up and slid another pillow behind his back. After fidgeting a little he leaned back and sipped the tea through the straw. "Hermione brought the straws when she saw us trying to maneuver the cup. It works well." She broke off a piece of biscuit and put it into the man's mouth. As he chewed she sat in the easy chair Draco had vacated and sipped her tea.

"Continue with your story. But first who were you talking about that had a muggle name?" Andromeda urged.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had a muggle name," Draco answered.

"Yes," Andromeda agreed. "Tom Riddle was a half-blood with delusions of grandeur."

Severus and Draco smirked. Draco continued his story, "Some of the professors came and testified for me. Flitwick, Sprout, McGonagall, even Madam Pomfrey." He named those who came. "They told the Wizengamot that all of us Slytherins had been fighting under duress and that we were under age when recruited. They said we were only trying to live and keep our parents from being killed. But the best was last. Hermione Damn-She-Gave-Them-Hell-F'in' Granger! You know how you always called her an insufferable know-it-all. I was so glad she was. She got up there and read them word for word from their own damn laws and told them they didn't have a case and if they wanted another generation of people to revolt keep the pure-bloods separate from the rest of society. She said that was a sure way to build animosity. Can you believe that she vouched for me? What did I do for her? Stood there and stared, quaking in my dragon-hide boots while my crazy Aunt Bella carved her up and Crucioed her. They took half an hour and then called McGonagall in and talked to her. When they came back they said all of the cases of anyone who had taken the dark mark before they were seventeen were exonerated, but would have to complete their N.E.W.T.s at Hogwarts. Hermione then asked about the ones that had been coerced before the first war, too. She mentioned Regulus and you specifically. They pardoned both of you after she told them what Regulus had done and where he had died and then told them you had been helping the Order all along. They said they could not send Regulus back to school. Kingsley Shacklebolt said that it might be more like punishment to send you back to school and you should just be free. We cheated death and we cheated prison. How good is that?"

"Others?" Severus asked.

"Only those who killed, tortured or harbored enemies of the state would go to Azkaban. Most of the witches will be under house arrest like Mother. Some of their terms longer than others."

Severus looked out the window and saw the colors of a double rainbow stretching across the sky. "Cheated death and cheated prison." He whispered.

Charms Assignment #3 Anti-cheating charm write about someone who cheats.

Prompt: rainbow