Second Chance - Take Two

Originally published January 2009

Revised & Re-Structured November 2014

Chapter Seventeen - After the Nightmare

Severus watched as Harry, curled up with his dragon and under his covers, finally slept after the nightmare. Very lightly he moved aside a fringe of hair and brushed his fingertips where the scar had been.

"Were you here, Lily?" he softly asked the shadows.

Harry had patiently explained earlier, "Mum was in my room, Daddy. The scary wizards came out of my dream and I called for mummy and she came."

"And she touched your scar?" asked Echo.

Harry nodded, and yawned. "She uhm... she said, I'll take them away, love. Run to your Daddy. So I did."

Severus sat down on the edge of Harry's bed. Had Lily's ghost been here to rescue her son? Had Lily truly referred to him as 'Daddy'? He sighed heavily as he laid his hand on Harry's back. He was one of the few people that had understood why Harry had de-aged himself. He was also one of the people that had unfortunately made the boy's childhood difficult and something he wanted to forget.

Of course he had to treat other students outside of his Slytherins with disfavour, and he certainly was not able to show Potter any sympathy. Even so, he had often been harder on the boy than was necessary. All because of an old hatred, a jealousy of James Potter.

In this brief time that he had been father to the Boy-Who-Lived he had learned he had been so very wrong about Harry. Severus, always too quick to place the sins of the father upon the son could not see the loving child who, despite the wretched treatment of his erstwhile family, had a capacity for others Severus had never known in another child.

To be fair to James, Harry did have one of the grown man's better qualities; his tenacious need to keep safe all those he cared about. Six year old Harry was so very attentive to Albus, and it made his father incredibly proud. His experience with such young children was practically nil, but the teenagers he had taught had never been so compassionate and caring. Harry often put aside his own playtime in order to take care of his 'grandpa'.

"What spells have you woven over me, Harry?" he leaned down, kissed the child's soft cheek and allowed himself a small smile at the contentment sighed from the sleeping boy.

The next morning, Echo and Severus sat at the dining table poring over a stack of legal paperwork. Albus was sitting out in the backyard watching Harry fly on his Junior Firebolt. Every few minutes Severus would look up from his paperwork and out the picture window to make sure his son and Albus were both fine.

"I have to agree with Albus' assessment, Miss Prosper. You signed these documents under fraudulent circumstances. If as you say..."

He was interrupted by Echo indignant expression, "If?! I already told you..."

"Miss Prosper, please do not interrupt me!" he snapped. He paused a moment, and in a calmer tone, continued, "I believe you, however you will need to prove that you were, indeed faithful, during your marriage to your ex-husband. If you can, which should not be difficult if pensieve testimony, or Veritaserum is accepted in the Greek courts, then it will be obvious that not only was your bond broken under a false assumption, but your property and business were taken under that same falsity."

Echo nodded in agreement, and glanced a quick apology silently with her gaze. She then looked miserably down at all the paperwork. "The one obstacle is that I cannot bring charges against Oland. Someone else must bring charges against Oland on my behalf."

"Why are you not able to bring up charges?" Quickly Severus shuffled the paperwork. He had not found mention of another witch or wizard having to bring charges at Echo's ex-husband.

Echo leaned back in her chair. "I was found guilty of infidelity. I gave testimony to the Bond-Wizard that I had been unfaithful. Therefore, I am, regardless of the truth, guilty and thus I am not permitted to bring up charges of fraud."

"That is decidedly misogynistic," huffed Severus.

"You'll find, Master Snape, that the Wizarding Greek court is rather a few centuries behind its Muggle counterpart. Witches very often lose, and its worse in the case of a married witch and wizard. The court favors the wizard. I'm fortunate Oland and I didn't have children. He would have gotten custody regardless of my competency as a mother."

"In England, at least, you would have had Veritaserum to force the truth," grumbled Severus.

"In England, I would be stuck with Oland for the rest of my life! In England, a Fidelius Bond is sacrosanct," she retorted. "At the time, it was worth it to lose everything just to be rid of him."

"It is quite unnecessary to shout, Miss Prosper," scolded Severus irritably. He quickly peeked out the window to see his son fly by. He had the sudden desire to be outside with his son flying.

"Then stop treating me as though I'm some slow-witted student who should have known better." Severus snapped his attention back to Echo. A wary tear had fallen down one cheek. "You have no idea what Oland put me through the last year we were married, Severus. I wanted to escape and I would have given anything in order to do so."

Severus eyed Echo critically. There was something more going on than what she was telling him. Hesitantly he asked, "Was he hurting you, Echo?"

Echo looked away from the Potions Master. The warm glint of concern in his dark eyes was painful to see. "Not with his fists. Although, I wished sometimes that he would just hit me."

"Magic, then?"

"By chance, have you ever heard of an ancient volume of text called, The Complaisant Wife?" Severus shook his head. It did not sound like anything he had ever read, even out of curiosity. "It describes spells to be used on one's wife in order to make her..." Echo swallowed in shame, and pushed away from the dining table. "It's an absolutely vile text and ought to be considered a Dark Arts text."

Severus felt somewhat ill as his imagination spun rampant on just what The Complaisant Wife might make a woman do. He did not want to dwell upon this delicate, and distasteful subject, but if he were to help at all in regaining Echo her property, her business, and even her reputation then he had to ask some difficult questions.

"The... treatment in this book, is it considered by the Greek court as acceptable between a husband and wife?" asked Severus gently.

Echo was now standing at the picture window that looked out over the backyard of the cottage. For several minutes she did not answer. "The court would not view it as acceptable. Many of the spells are a variation on the Imperius Curse."

Severus closed his eyes as the bile from his tea a half hour ago rose up in his throat. He had known a few Death Eaters who joked about using the Imperius Curse on their wives and mistresses. It was sickening.

He rose from the table, gathered the paperwork together, and placed it in a nearby desk. Severus looked out the window at his son, now seated beside Albus and reading to the elderly wizard, and felt a great yearning for the innocence and joy of his son. Striding to the back door, he opened it and stepped out into a refreshing breeze.

"Harry, Echo and I are in need of some exercise and fresh air. As it is Sunday, would you care to see what is so wonderful about this Market we keep hearing about?"

Harry turned and grinned. "I'd like to, but is there any way grandpa could come?"

Albus patted Harry's arm. "I think not, Harry. I am feeling rather tired and would much prefer a nap." Harry looked very disappointed, but he understood that his grandfather was not well. Albus smiled and stroked the child's soft cheek with his index finger. "Why don't you bring me back something interesting?"

"And shiny?" Harry said hopefully.

The ex-Headmaster chuckled, "Oh yes, my dearest grandson, it must be shiny!"