Harry Potter Don't Own it.

The place that they decided to go was the room of requirement, as advised by Severus when they reached it, it took the form of a beautifully done sitting room that had: a view of the Forbidden Forest, a leather mahogany colored sofa, a single seat couch of the same color, a small stone archway in the back left corner with a barista setup behind it.

The first to speak was Vinny "so before we catchup would you like some coffee?..." he stopped and seemed to notice Severus looking around "Look familiar? you said the room would change according to what I needed, so I went with the sitting room set up from the old house." Severus was in another place for a moment and when he looked back at Vinny and said "Yes, I would love some, same as usual" he looked down at the redhead in his arms and said "but we should probably wake this one up before we start talking, you know how she hates being left out of the loop."

Vinny gave a small smile and said "put her in the sofa, ill wake her up" Sev did as told and Vinny said "Finite Incantatem" before Lily bolted upright, looked around, stopped when she saw Vinny, and said "Mi hai messo a dormire? (Did you put me to sleep?)" Looking rather exasperated, she looked like she was about to start a rant but Vinny stopped her saying "Ho dovuto la mira ragazza non volevo che tu mi veda in quell modo (I had to my girl I didn't want you to see me like that)" Lily gasped and said "what did you do?" switching back to English.

Vinny gave a light huff and said "not much, well I took it easy on all of them except for Potter" a dark look came across his face "I gave him what he deserved, he tried to break apart my family so I did what the retribution called for and gave a warning in the form of a beating he won't soon forget" at the startled look on her face he quickly continued "he'll heal don't worry about that" she seemed to calm down with his reassurance.

"I didn't even use magic I just beat him the old muggle way, I had to, you know I couldn't quench the rage unless I spilt the blood of my enemy" she spoke "okay, now that that is out of the way would you please tell us why you left Papà" he nodded in the affirmative and said "yes I will but first why don't I make some coffee for us or would you like hot chocolate I remember you didn't quite take to it like Sev did" with a reminiscent look on his face. She looked a little abashed and nodded.

"I think I could try, but could you make it sweet, I don't think I'll be able to handle it bitter." He let out a chuckle and make his war over to the barista station and started to make the coffees, all Cappuccinos Lily's with extra sugar.

The coffees were all ready within half an hour, the time filled with silence Severus having taken up the other side of the couch that Lily did not occupy. Having finished Vinny spoke "and done" he walked over and handed them to the other occupants of the room before taking his own seat across from them. He took a sip before Sev was the first to talk "so, back to the matter of you leaving could you tell us happened" he held a pleading look in his eyes that Vinny didn't miss nor the one in Lily's. He took one more sip of his coffee before setting it down with the plate under it and nodding.

"Yes, I suppose it has been put off long enough." He sighed and began telling his reason for leaving "it's simple really, my family was and is one of the main forces sided in the fight against Voldemort" he paused noticing Lily's flinch.

"And in so included moving constantly, going wherever necessary and crippling his forces. When I turned nine, we moved to Britain where I met you two. You were the first friends I had that became family. The time we spent together was the best when I had to leave it was devastating but it was necessary, we were informed that he had caught wind of where we were then located and we had to move and break his forces elsewhere."

He stopped and Sev spoke up "I understand that" he looked at Lily "I believe we both do but why did you take yourself from our memories, I know with the looming of them finding you prompted the moving but I don't understand why you removed yourself from our memories."

Vinny looked slightly distraught but continued anyway "I needed to be sure you would not be targeted, as I would be thrown into the thick of it and I couldn't find it in myself to just leave you, so I removed myself and altered your memories so it seemed like I never appeared that day. I'm so sorry Severus, I never thought my departing would end up like this I had no choice I had to leave."

Vinny looked very melancholic and was staring at his hands "I've seen the way you have been for a month, I thought it was a lapse but it seems both of you changed a lot more than I anticipated" he stopped talking and it was Lily who spoke this time "A month? Why are you now showing up? And how come you are here in Hogwarts? Why did you restore our memories?" he looked up and answered the questions.

"I thought I would see how you have changed but it seemed for the worst. As for why I am here that is because there are forces that are brewing, and he had to move back it looks like a majority of his forces are here, so we will be here for a long while. And for your memories, I think it has been long enough I couldn't watch you two drift apart, the path Severus was a dark one I could not watch he sink any further in to the clutches of darkness with the false promises of power and glory."

He stopped to recompose himself "I needed to fix what was broken, what I had broken." Both Lily and Severus looked at him and Lily said "we understand, we just lost sight of ourselves without you there, we want to go back to the way things were and grow some more, with you Papà" after she said this both of them walked over to where he sat and hugged him.

They stayed in the embrace for a few minutes letting everything sink in until Vinny pulled away and looked at the silver pocket watch he had and said "look at the time, you should be heading off it's about time for dinner."

When he said this the other occupants noticed how much the sun had dipped and realized what he said was true Lily spoke "it seems so, are we going to see you again you're not going to disappear and this will all be a dream are you?" he gave them both a mysterious smile while ushering them out of the room.

Just before they left he seemed to remember something and said "Wait!, I almost forgot, I think it is about time I returned these to the both of you" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a box in said box were two identical rings that were beautifully crafted having a silver band that flared out on the top with a crest (see cover photo) seeming to popup from the ring with the initials S on one side of the crest and another S on the other side.

The other ring similar with the L and E on it, this one being considerable smaller than the other when he had given them to their respective owners he was pushing them out again and seemed to disappear as Lily and Severus made their way to the Great Hall and went to their respective house tables.

Both Severus and Lily had just taken their seats when Professor Dumbledore stood and made a speech "Before we eat out meals tonight I would like to say a few words. Firstly, these are dark times we are in but I am sure if we all stick together and love one another we with triumph and see bright again. Secondly I would like to introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher who will be replacing Professor Elrich who is currently on leave because of health problems"

a twinkle appeared in his eyes as he continued the students started to murmur until Dumbledore silenced them and continued "I will say that he may be young but he is quite adept in his field rivaling that of some of the wizards twice his age." he seemed to pause for dramatic effect and then continued "please welcome Professor Vincenzo Antonichi Da Firenze" before returning to his seat.

A figure walked out of the office behind the tables wearing: black satin robes with a white trim, a white with vertical stripes dress shirt tucked into a pair of black slacks held up by black suspenders, he also wore black dragon hide dress shoes, and his hair was in a wolf's tail hair style held by a simple black ribbon.

There was no reaction at first only silence and then all hell broke loose the students had cries of "he can't be a Professor" "is this a joke" "no way is that hotty a Professor" even the normally calm and composed Slytherins bristled a little bit but not as much as the other houses. Even the teachers were a little skeptical about the young man in their ranks.

Dumbledore was about to silence them once more when Vinny did a placating gesture towards him and he sat back down. He took his wand and put it to his neck and spoke his voice amplified "Silence!" the hall was quiet once more before he continued after taking his wand away from his neck.

"Now then, I am glad to be here as an instructor and hopefully a friend as well. I'm sorry to have caused an uproar, but please quiet down, lastly I look forward to working with you all as your Professor thank you that is all." He went and sat down next to professor Slughorn as Dumbledore stood from his seat and said "now, that everything is in order everyone enjoy your dinner." With a clap of his hands food appeared on all the tables and everyone began to eat, almost all conversation about the new DADA teacher.

Thanks for reading I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it hope you look forward to chapter 3 Later Daze