Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character thereof.

Chapter 18

Three days before Halloween, Severus was summoned. He fire-called Albus to tell him that he was leaving.

He appeared in the Dark Lord's throne room, bowed, and kissed the hem of his robes while waiting to be recognized.

"Stand Severus."

After he stood, he saw Bellatrix in the corner of the room fiddling with something.

"Have you found out anything else about the Potter's?"

"Of sorts, My Lord, but nothing to their whereabouts. I did find myself wondering if Dumbledore was their secret keeper, but after I slipped some Veritaserum into his tea, I discovered that it was not the case."

"He did not realize you did this?" The Dark Lord had an appraising look on his face.

"No, my Lord. He is a very trusting man. As long as I give him no reason to doubt me, it seems that he will remain his ignorant self. Of course, I did make sure not to ask him any direct questions that would make him suspicious about why he felt compelled to give me a direct answer." Severus sneered at his own audacity.

Voldemort hissed his laughter.

"I did, however, discover something else from that conversation, My Lord, that is, if you wish to hear it, of course." He briefly inclined his head into a bow.

"Go on."

"I found out why the Potter's finally decided to go into hiding." From the corner of his eye he saw Bella freeze.

"Really?" The Dark Lord's voice showed a little curiosity, basically confirming that Bella never told him what had truly happened during her visit with the Potter's.

"Yes, My Lord. It seems that Bellatrix was caught and cursed while trying to take the brat out of his playpen. They have no idea why of course, but they knew that if she wanted their son, then nothing good could come of it. That's when they decided to go under the Fidelius Charm. They wanted to protect him."

When Severus had been told that by Albus, he had laughed, because instinct told him that it was Lily that had placed that vindictively nasty curse on her. Oh, how he was sorry he had to heal it.

Bellatrix couldn't stand it anymore. She knew that she was going to be punished for not telling the Dark Lord that information, which was the reason she had never told him to begin with. So instead, she did something, which in hindsight, she realized was stupid. She sent a bone crushing curse at Severus, who deflected it lazily with the swish of his wand.

She eyed her master and saw that his eyes were narrowed at her. She then cowed herself into a corner.

"Interesting, Severus. Thank you for telling me."

Severus bowed before the Dark Lord then stood again.

"You have served me very faithfully these past few years, Severus. You have even surprised me at times with just how cruel you can be, especially for your young age. I have very high hopes for you in the future. Therefore, I would like to reward you for your loyalty." He then turned to Bellatrix who was still sulking in the corner and ordered her to leave. She slunk out of the room knowing that she was still going to be punished later.

"This Halloween, for your reward, I will bring you back ... a gift ... as it were. I know that you will be very pleased with it."

"Thank you, My Lord. You are very gracious. I look forward to it, very much." Severus sent thoughts of servitude, gratitude, and loyalty above his shields.

"Now, I am going to have a couple of minor raid groups assembled on Halloween, but you are not to join us until I summon you directly. The old fool will no doubt be pleased if you are not called at dusk because he will then assume that we are behaving ourselves."

The Dark Lord let out a hiss of a chuckle.

"I understand, my Lord."

After a few more minutes of talking, Severus bowed and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes again before being dismissed.

Once he arrived back in his quarters, he requested Albus to come and see him. After he fixed both of them a glass of elf-made wine, they discussed the meeting.

"What do you suppose this surprise is?"

"I don't know, but I am quite sure that I will not like it. Oh, and your Veritaserum distraction worked. He was so impressed, he forgot to be angry with me." Severus smirked. "And Bellatrix tried to curse me in front of him, idiotic woman."

Albus nodded. "Has Voldemort ever given you any gifts before?"

Severus let out a humorless chuckle after he finished off his drink. "Yeah. It consisted of rare and illegal ingredients. He told me to take those and make him a potion that would keep a person awake and make them relive the worst experience that they had ever had in their life, as well as a few other ... additives. Some gift ... He seemed to be under the impression that I would relish the idea in creating something like that."

"Do you think he is going to do the same this time?"

Severus shook his head. "No. The way he said it was different. If it were not for the fact that I know from first hand experience that Black hates the Dark Arts, I would suspect that he meant Lily, but I know that Black would never turn on them."

Dumbledore nodded with a grimace on his face.

A few minutes later, Albus vanished both of their empty glasses before heading toward the fireplace. "Let's just hope he doesn't have anything horrible planned." With that said, he walked through the green flames back to his office.

On Halloween night, Severus decided to restock the healing potions for Madam Pomfrey (Quidditch season was about to start) in order to keep himself occupied until he was summoned.

Around 9:30 pm, he felt a sudden tight sensation in his chest. The pain was so intense it took his breath away and brought tears to his eyes. A minute later, he felt his Mark burn in a way that he had never felt before. He actually checked to make sure that it wasn't bleeding.

Normally he would not dare take a pain relieving potion in case the Dark Lord could tell, but he did not have a choice this time. He could hardly see straight between the two intensities, which worried him as he considered himself to have a high tolerance to pain. After downing the potion, the pain eased a little in both places at first, and then slowly the pain in his arm vanished, except for an occasional twinge. However, the pain in his chest was still present. After about 20 more minutes, it was no longer a searing pain, it was still, however, a dull ache.

Once he could think semi-straight again, he was unsure what to do. That was not a direct summons. In fact, it felt like no summons at all. After another 15 minutes had passed, he realized he needed to get to Albus. His gut told him that something was terribly wrong.

Getting up off of the chair he had collapsed into, he headed to the fireplace. As he reached for the floo powder, Albus's head appeared in the fire, requesting his presence.

This did not bode well.

When he entered Albus' office, he saw Madam Pomfrey standing over a crying 15 month old boy that was sitting on the Headmaster's desk. When he saw who that child was, the room began to spin just as the floor fell out from under him. He didn't realize it, but Albus and Minerva both caught him before he hit the ground. They then, carefully, guided him over to a chair near the desk.

"No ..." Severus said quietly.

Albus looked grim. "Severus. Voldemort entered Godric's Hollow tonight ..."

"No!" Severus said slightly louder, his voice rough with emotion. His heart was begging Albus not to say what he knew he was going to.

"Black betrayed them. James and ..."

"NO!" He said in a much louder voice, which caused the toddler to stop crying. He did not want Albus to say it. 'NO! NO! NO!,' he thought with maddening desperation.

"Lily are dead."

Severus could no longer hold the tears back. He had no idea how long he had cried. It was as if his world had stopped spinning and time stood still. For a long time, or merely only seconds, he was oblivious to everything and anything. He wasn't sure how he was going to live without her. He wanted to die. He felt as if he were dying.

Harry started reaching out toward Severus. He wouldn't hold still. Madam Pomfrey gave up and looked to see where he was trying to go. She was hesitant to give him to the man, mostly for the fact that he had not pulled himself together yet.

Surprisingly, Severus looked up and through his tears and grief, realized that the baby wanted to sit on his lap. It was his last link to Lily. He took the child in his arms and held him close. He had no idea what he was doing but it seemed to work for both of them, for they both calmed down slightly.

"You ... you swore you ... you would protect her ..." Severus whispered.

Albus gave Minerva and Poppy a look that asked them to leave, which they did.

"I tried." Albus sounded defeated as he sat in his chair.

"Now I know why my heart cried out in pain earlier and why it still aches," Severus mumbled. Albus heard him but did not comment on it.

Raising his voice from the mumbling tone, he looked at Albus and asked, "And what of the Dark Lord? My Mark burned like it never had before. Please tell me an Auror or someone else got him, because if not, I'm going to do it myself!" His voice crept back down to a deathly, menacing tone.

Rage was flowing through Severus but it was in check at the moment because of the child that was currently curled up into his chest.

"The Dark Lord is gone but an Auror did not do it."

Severus raised an eyebrow, mostly out of habit.

"Aren't you curious as to why young Harry here is still alive, especially since he was the primary target?"

That seemed like a logical question to Severus, except that he was still having trouble thinking logically, so he just nodded instead.

"You are currently holding the first ever survivor of the Killing Curse."

Severus' eyes flung open in shock.

Harry felt the abrupt emotion change and pulled away from the man that was keeping him warm and looked up at him.

It was then that Severus saw the scar.

"The curse hit Harry then rebounded upon Voldemort."

"How?" His throat was hoarse.

"I have my theories."

He knew that he wouldn't get anything else out of him on the issue, which miffed him slightly.

"Severus, I am going to need your help in protecting Harry when the time comes."

Severus was still staring at the child on his lap with curiosity. 'How could a baby survive the Killing Curse and defeat the Dark Lord?' he wondered.

"What do you mean?" He finally asked. He was thoroughly confused now. "You said that the Dark Lord was gone. He should be under no more threat." He looked up at the Headmaster.

"Voldemort is not gone for good. You know his desires as well as I do."

Severus thought and then snorted. "It'd be just like him to have found a way to be immortal." He started to call the Dark Lord a bastard but kept it inside his head because of Harry being present.

Albus looked at him like he knew exactly what he was going to say and grimaced. "No one can ever truly be immortal, but there was no body and no ghost. However, there was a dark essence left behind. He is still alive somehow, though he is no longer human." He knew that Dumbledore had his ways of just knowing things so he did not question him.

"So, if the need should ever arise, will you help me protect Harry, Severus?"

As if on cue, Harry looked into Severus' eyes with Lily's emerald gaze and said, "Hug Sev'rus."

The eyes alone was all it would have taken, the words made it more solid. As he hugged the 15 month old, he looked up at Albus and saw that he was both amused and proud of the toddler. If he didn't know better, he would have assumed that Albus had taught him to say that.

"I will do all in my power to protect him," he said, with firm resolution.

Arrangements were made for Harry to go live with Lily's sister. Severus wasn't thrilled with that because he knew that Petunia hated magic, but he also knew that she was the only family that Harry had left, especially since Black was caught before Severus could seek him out.

True to Dumbledore's word, Snape was tried in a quiet trial in November. With the evidence that was presented, he was, indeed, cleared of all charges. A cover story was then formed that would allow him to still remain in contact with the Death Eater's that were managing to weasel out of Azkaban, like Lucius did by claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse.

Severus wasn't thrilled with the idea of keeping in contact with them, but knew that it was necessary, so he planned to do so sparingly.

He was pleased to know that Bellatrix was sent to Azkaban but it came at a high price, for she had already tortured the Longbottom's into insanity.

Slowly, life began to take on a semblance of normalcy in the wizarding world.

Thus began the calm between two devastatingly bad storms.

A/N: 7/29/11 - Edited words and such ...