Quicksand

Harry snapped his head to the right and saw a man he didn't recognise, standing a few feet away, regarding him curiously. Never taking his eyes off the stranger, his held his wand aloft – he hadn't heard anyone approach. He stared at the man suspiciously. Harry could make out the outline of light coloured, collar length hair and a long muggle type trench-coat in the soft glow of the moonlight. "How did you…?" Harry furrowed his brows and peered at the man for a moment. Neither of them made any attempt to move. "Who are you?"

The grave was under a disillusionment charm and only visible to a select few people including himself. Although Harry had revealed the truth about his former professor's intentions, the general opinion outside the school and in the Ministry of Magic, was still divided. The name of Severus Snape was stilled vilified on the lips of a lot of people. Rita Skeeter and the Daily prophet had done very little to help these matters. Only days after the man's death, the odious reporter had produced a scathing article, highlighting both Snape's teaching methods and death eater activities.

"Alexander Saven, Severus was my distant cousin – on his mother's side, he hastily added. The man spoke in clipped, honeyed tones. "He didn't have many friends so I was surprised to find anyone else here. I take it Severus was your teacher at Hogwarts then?"

Harry nodded and gulped, trying to will away the snitch sized lump in his throat. "He was my potions professor, then in my last year, he taught Defence against the Dark Arts."

"Oh! Well, he was certainly interested in that subject. I think he knew the material in the 3rd year textbooks before he even set foot in Hogwarts," Alexander murmured. "I heard he became headmaster before his death."

"Yes," Harry replied. His gaze drifted to the gravestone. "But I wasn't in school during that time." Harry, Ron and Hermione had dropped out of school for that final year, hunting the horcruxes and trying to stay out of the grasp of snatchers and death-eaters. He looked back at Alexander. "Did you go to Hogwarts then?"

The man took a few steps closer. "Yes, I was at school with Severus and …" He made a sweeping gesture, indicating the grave of Lily and James Potter.

Harry's green eyes settled back on the older man. Now that he was standing closer, Alexander was revealed as a handsome man with high cheekbones and sandy brown hair. He was dressed in muggle clothing and had little resemblance to his dark, dungeon bat of a cousin – apart from his alabaster complexion. "So you knew my parents as well then?"

"Oh so you are Lily Evans' son?"

Harry blinked in surprise and sighed with relief at not being addressed as 'Harry Potter', 'saviour of the Wizarding World', 'The Chosen One' or various other appellations that he had become accustomed to. It made for a welcome change and he smiled and held out his hand. "Yes. I'm Harry."

The man shook the proffered hand. He shuffled his feet for a moment. "Of course – Harry Potter, forgive me Harry, I have spent much of my time in the muggle world since the first wizarding wars. That's why I didn't recognise you at first."

"No! It's a relief actually! " Harry couldn't go anywhere without being hounded by autograph hunters or press, clamouring for an exclusive story about the Chosen One. He practically needed a body guard to walk down Diagon Alley without being mobbed. "Did you – did you know them well?"

Alexander sighed before he spoke. "Not that well. I was in Ravenclaw." He nodded towards the Potter grave. "Your mother, Lily was friendly toward the other houses and got on with everyone but James – your father – he had a tight knit bunch of friends from Gryffindor, called themselves the Marauders. They were always getting into trouble, breaking rules, playing pranks on everyone."

Harry nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes I heard they played a lot of pranks on Professor Snape?"

Alexander was silent for a moment then said, "You still call him that even though you aren't in school anymore?"

"Yes, I – I hardly called him that when I was in school though."

"I can only imagine what names the children came up with for him." Alexander mumbled. "He wasn't the friendliest chap in the world. He was very good friends with your mother though, you know – then something happened in the sixth year and they fell out.

"I know," Harry breathed.

"He became quite withdrawn, hardly spoke to anyone, just sat scribbling away in his text books – probably writing a thousand and one ways to hex your father and his friends for the – tricks they played on him."

Harry knew, exactly what had been written all those years ago in the Potions textbook, he had discovered it in Slughorn's potions cupboard, marked: Property of the Half Blood Prince and he had utilised the handy hints and notes that had been scribbled in the margins and alongside the text, to excel in potions. Hermione had become slightly jealous of his success. He hadn't realised at the time, that the person whose writings he so admired, was none other than his most hated professor.

"I wouldn't blame him if he had," he replied. "They were awful to him in school from what I heard. I mean, I love my dad and he was a great wizard, but he was a total prick to Professor Snape and perhaps if he hadn't been, then things would have turned out different. Snape wouldn't have become a death eater and…" He had become quite agitated, his breathing seemed to have accelerated to a hundred miles an hour.

Alexander stood with his arms folded. "Really? Even though this was your father we are talking about."

"Still wasn't right, I can't stand bullies. It's their fault he…"

"Easy, Harry," Alexander patted him lightly on his arm. "I don't think you understand the influence that Lucius Malfoy had on him when he came to Hogwarts, he was the Slytherin prefect, he knew how to manipulate people and was well under you-know-who's influence. He had just about everyone in that house signed up to follow him when they left school. Severus was easy prey after he fell out with your mother yes, but in the end he made his own choices." There was a slight tremble in the man's hand."

"I – guess it must have been frustrating to watch him getting involved in all that," he said.

Alexander removed his hand and placed them in his pockets. "A little. We – got on OK in the first few years but didn't hang around together, as I said, he was always with your mother – besides which he was a Slytherin and the others in his house didn't really encourage communication with others outside their own house."

"And it's sometimes like that now. All this inter house rivalry, it's stupid and pointless!" Harry snapped. "I mean, a little friendly competition for quiditch and the house cup is one thing, but not at the level it was at Hogwarts – I mean, and I'm ashamed to admit this, but another student and I almost hexed each other into oblivion. It has to stop. We hated each other right through school and fought because we were in different houses!" He quashed his anger, forcing himself to take deep breaths. "And in the end, what was it all for? Power? Pureblood supremacy? It's just like what happened during the 2nd World War with Hitler. So many people died at the battle of Hogwarts – on both sides. So many pointless deaths – like Professor Snape."

"There will always be causalities in a war, Harry and those who take part are aware of the risk it poses. It is a shame that it has to be so." Alexander spoke each word slowly. "I'm sure he would be comforted to know that someone cared for him enough to do this." He removed his right hand from his pocket and gestured towards the black gravestone.

"I didn't while we were at school," Harry began, "but then I didn't learn until recently that he was really on Dumbledore's side the whole time, and that he was protecting me." Alexander remained silent, letting Harry do all the speaking. "And I didn't exactly make it easy for him. I took on a fully grown mountain troll in the first year. A jinx on my broom almost killed me. In my 3rd year, I confronted a man I thought to have been a mass murderer. I took so many chances, I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Professor Snape and I didn't give him a chance," he whispered as he felt the threat of tears again.

"A mountain troll – Merlin's beard!" Alexander exclaimed. "Well at least you survived to tell the tale of it. I don't suppose my cousin was too impressed with your exploits. He never had much patience with children to begin with."

"Well, luckily for us, he wasn't my head of house or I think I would have been expelled in the 2nd year!"

Alexander pursed his lips. "So Severus was a strict disciplinarian then I take it?"

"Yeah, sometimes too much. In fact he was a bloody bastard at times, and I hated him for always taking points from Gryffindor or making me clean cauldrons in detention." Harry winced. Had he been too disrespectful? The man was Alexander's cousin after all. "But," he continued, "all the same, I should have treated him with more respect. Everything he did – especially in this last year, he must have felt so isolated and alone. After Dumbledore's death…" Harry gazed at his shoes, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with sadness. "He would have had no-one to speak to and I know what that is like." The last few words, he spoke in a whisper. He had spent ten years of his life feeling like the loneliest boy in the world, locked in a cupboard under the stairs, and constantly reminded that he was a freak and worthless. He clamped down on his volatile emotions. "He must have felt like – like he was sinking in quicksand with no-one to rescue him."

The older man sighed. An awkward silence followed then he spoke softly. "There is no point in dwelling on these things Harry, I'm sure that if Severus made this sacrifice, as you say he did, then he would want you to get on with your own life and have one that is a damned sight more happy than his was."

For a while, both men stood in companiable silence then a question formed on Harry's lips. "So how did you know where he was buried?"

I went to see Minerva McGonagal. It's been years since I last saw Severus and I suppose you always think there will be another time in the future don't you." Harry nodded sadly.

"I always hoped that the Severus I knew from school wasn't lost forever," Alexander continued, "he was different from the other Slytherins at first and he was hanging around with a muggle born – your mother. But the others in his dorm started having more of an influence on him and soon, he was on a downward spiral into the darkness. When I heard about his part in bringing down you-know-who, I felt I had to come and pay my respects."

"But why did my father have to pick on him so much?" Harry had never been satisfied with the answer that his godfather had given him that they were just kids larking about – not after seeing the memories. He still couldn't shake the feeling that his father, Sirius and to a lesser extent, Lupin had been partly responsible for Snape becoming a death eater.

"I don't know really, James was jealous of their friendship I guess, as it was no secret that he fancied your mother from the moment he saw her on the train in the first year. Severus was an oddball, long hair, clothes that didn't fit and his preference for muggle music."

"He liked muggle music? Really?"

"Yes, he particularly liked David Bowie as I recall. A few people thought he was a wizard but he was just an incredibly talented muggle. He probably should have been though."

"I've heard of him, I spent every summer in the muggle world," Harry replied. "Blimey, I always thought he would be into classical stuff like Mozart."

Alexander chuckled. "Well he may have done later, but certainly when I knew him he was into Bowie, T-Rex and later some really dark and moody bands like Joy Division and Bauhaus."

Harry blinked, his eyes widened. "What so he was a goth?"

"Well I don't know that he would take too kindly to that label. He was just…Severus." Alexander stated.

Harry stared wistfully at the mound of earth in front of him. "I wish I could have known the real Severus Snape. I only found out how much he had done for me after he died"

There was a long silence which was eventually broken by Alexander – who appeared to choose his words carefully. "There wasn't really that much else to know. He kept himself to himself, learned at an early age to hide his emotions. He – was never the easiest person to get close to. I think he preferred it that way."

"But no-one can be happy living like that!" Said Harry.

"Harry I don't think Severus had been happy for a long time. He probably didn't feel that he deserved to be. I imagine that he was relieved when he realised that he was going to die."

"Maybe, but…" Harry murmured, he screwed his eyes shut trying to will away the image of the dying man that swam into his vision. "I still wish I had made more of an effort to like the man."

"That's admirable of you but I think the best of Severus Snape died on the day he fell out with your mother."

Harry just gazed at the ground for a few moments. "I refuse to believe that. I think the best of him was only revealed to Dumbledore and hidden from the rest of the world. I hope he's at peace now," he whispered.

A sudden gust of wind appeared. Alexander plucked at a lock of hair that had whipped about his face. "I think it may be time to leave them in peace now." Harry nodded and both men turned towards the exit.

"What do you do – In the muggle world I mean? I never thought of having a career outside of the wizarding world." Harry asked his companion as they walked back towards the church.

Alexander grinned, the corners of his mouth turning up as he did so. "I'm an alchemist. Since the interest in what they refer to as New Age Science – aromatherapy, Reiki healing, Wicca; you can just about get away with performing spells there and the muggles are none the wiser."

"Oh, but I thought the Statute of Secrecy meant that you could not perform magic in front of muggles."

"Well…yes, in theory, but for stuff like healing, they turn a blind eye. If you were to ride a broom or apparate in front of a muggle then that would be a violation. I believe there was a sighting of a flying car a few years back – caused quite an amount of consternation as I recall."

"Oh yeah…I remember that," Harry smirked. He and Ron had flown the charmed Ford Anglia to school in the 2nd year after they missed the Hogwarts Express. Snape had been livid and told the two Gryffindors that they would have been expelled, had they been in Slytherin House, luckily their own head of House, Professor McGonagal had been more lenient.

Once back on the street, Alexander said goodbye, then dissaparated, and Harry found himself alone in the street. Feeling the chill of the wind, he placed his hands in his pockets and his fingers brushed against a silky material. The Invisibility cloak! But he couldn't even remember bringing it. He shrugged, obviously the stress of the last few weeks was catching up with him.

Ok, so I have no idea what music Severus was into but he certainly dressed like a lot of gothic men I have known – apart from the robes of course. He was brought up in the muggle world and so probably would have heard the music around at the time like Bowie, T-Rex etc.