Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Ellery threw Harriet incredulous glances for the rest of the day whenever Severus and Lily weren't looking.
Neither noticed their children's apprehension as they tucked Ellery then Harriet into bed and retired to their own room.
It hurt Lily to see Severus's deep frown that night as she crawled into bed and made herself comfortable on his shoulder.
Silently, she draped a leg across him as his fingers deftly stroked her upper arm.
"Sev……..?" Lily asked in the dark privacy of their bedroom.
"...Yes?" His low answer came in a voice barely above a whisper.
"It's alright, you know……..I'll go with you, if you like." She quietly promised.
She tried not to frown as she heard Severus's hair brush the pillow while he turned to scowl down at her.
Lily glanced up and met his scowl with a wry smile, "If you want to see your father, Sev, no one will blame you. He's dying, this is your last chance."
Lily blinked as Severus gazed into her green eyes and hissed, "There is nothing……the two of us…..could possibly have to say to one another."
Before his wife could attempt to speak with him further about the subject, Severus frowned as he settled himself back on the pillows and closed his eyes.
In a gesture of silent support, Lily wrapped her arms around her husband and squeezed him tightly.
Although she didn't see, Severus opened his eyes as she whispered, "Well, regardless, I'm still here……If you need me, Sev, if you want to talk about anything…..I'm here."
Severus said nothing in response but he returned the pressure of his lover's grip as he clutched Lily against him.
If?
He found his wife's statement thoughtful but ridiculously naive.
Severus Snape always needed Lily, that would never change.
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An hour or so after Mr. and Mrs. Snape drifted off to sleep, their bedroom door cracked open.
Silently, Ellery and Harriet peered inside the room before they deftly crept through the doorway, careful not to step on a creaky floorboard with their bare feet.
"Alright…….." Harriet whispered to her brother once they stood beside Severus, "Grab his wand, I'll pull his sleeve up."
Ellery nodded at Harriet before he padded over to the nearby nightstand and retrieved Severus's wand.
While Ellery busied himself with his task, Harriet slowly reached down and slipped her hand under the covers……
Inch by inch, she dared to move until her fingertips collided with Severus's wrist.
She froze instantly as he snorted and jerked in his sleep at the unexpected contact of her cold touch.
Harriet glanced over to meet her brother's wide-eyed gaze as Severus wriggled under the sheets.
After a tense moment of rising panic, he settled again as his breathing deepened once more.
Harriet blew out a hushed sigh as Ellery shook his head, but she continued on as she deftly pulled the covers back to reveal Severus's left arm.
Slowly, carefully, Harriet unfastened the sleeve of his nightshirt and rolled the white fabric up to reveal the Dark Mark tattoo, positioned boldly between his wrist and elbow.
As Severus and Lily slept, blissfully unaware of their children's plot, Harriet motioned for her brother to come closer.
Ellery obediently scurried over and handed her Severus's wand.
"Doesn't this count as underage magic?" Ellery anxiously whispered to his sister.
"No." Harriet replied as she shook her head while they stared down at their sleeping parents, "Why would it? We aren't casting any spells…..It's like using a Portkey……sort of."
Ellery threw Harriet a doubtful frown as she pressed the tip of Severus's wand directly into the skull of his tattoo.
He instantly bristled once the snake on his arm began to move as if it lived on its own while Harriet's signal was sent.
"Sorry, Dad……" She whispered with a frown as she removed his wand's tip from the surface of his skin, "...But we need a lift."
As Severus groaned in his sleep and threatened to wake, Ellery hurriedly returned his wand to the nightstand while Harriet pulled his sleeve down again.
Severus rustled in bed while Harriet and Ellery escaped from the room as quietly as possible.
They gently closed the door behind themselves as they heard a muffled moan echo.
The Snape children glanced at each other nervously while they rushed down the hall towards their own doors until a pair of bright, red eyes suddenly moved towards them in the darkness.
Ellery gasped as if he had forgotten what they'd done but Harriet scowled as she fearlessly approached Voldemort, who slunk out of the shadows with his eerie smirk glowing and his black robes trailing around him like slithering snakes.
"Harriet……Ellery…." Voldemort smirked, "Children should be safely in their beds at this time of night……Go on, young ones, I must meet with your father right away."
"No, you mustn't." Harriet retorted.
Voldemort blinked before he cracked a wide smile and chuckled at her obstinacy, "...I beg your pardon, my dear?"
"Our father didn't summon you tonight, we did." Harriet declared as she crossed her arms.
"It was really more her……" Ellery whispered.
Harriet scowled at her brother before she turned back to Voldemort, who frowned as he asked, "And why would two children, who should be tumbling through pleasant dreams, rise to disobey their parents and seek my presence?"
Ellery fidgeted nervously, but Harriet had learned how her dear friend liked to be addressed.
"Because we desperately need help and you are the greatest wizard of all time." She told Voldemort with absolute confidence, "We trust you, we admire you, and you are the only one who can get us where we need to be tonight! Please, won't you take us to this address?" She asked as she reached into her pocket, pulled the scrap of parchment she had scrawled on earlier that day, and handed it to Voldemort.
The Dark Lord sneered at the scrap of parchment before Harriet frowned and scoffed, "Surely you can manage it?"
"My dear girl, of course I can manage such a simple task." Voldemort chided as a wicked smile curled his thin lips. He gazed at Harriet and her brother with a malicious glint in his eyes as he asked, "Your father and mother lie sleeping…….What would they say if they knew you both left the safety of your home behind their backs?"
"Maybe they'd consider taking us themselves, then." Harriet scowled as she crossed her arms, "Our grandfather's on his deathbed…Dad refuses to go and see him…...But we have every right to a visit, don't you agree?"
Voldemort blinked as Harriet unknowingly discovered his true weakness.
The Dark Lord's inability to feel and love left him incapable of understanding emotion.
"Please?" Ellery begged, "If you…..if you'll help my sister and I, we'll do whatever you ask in return."
"We'll do that anyway." Harriet snapped as she glanced at Ellery in irritation before she looked back at Voldemort and nodded, "But we would be forever grateful, my lord."
Voldemort did no favors without personal benefit.
Although, as he stared down at Severus's children, he envisioned enslaving the upcoming generation's minds by winning their admiration.
"Of course………" Voldemort gestured as he held out his long, pale hands, "What cruelty your parents have shown you by keeping you from your…."
"……Grandfather." Harriet reminded him.
"Your grandfather!" Voldemort exclaimed in a whispering sigh as he passed one of his hands over his face.
Ellery and Harriet watched a veil of Dark Magic cover his frame with swirling billows of thick, black smoke.
Their eyes widened as the dense fog slowly evaporated to reveal…….their father.
Harriet and Ellery both gasped once Voldemort's nonverbal spell concluded.
The Dark Lord was no longer present, instead, Severus stood in front of them.
From his black stare to his hooked nose, all the way down to his dramatic robes, Voldemort had managed to mimic his most valued officer's appearance in every detail.
"Now then," Voldemort spoke in Severus's voice, "...If you two will take my hand, we'll arrive at our destination shortly."
Harriet glanced at her brother and nodded.
She reached out first.
Ellery hesitated for a split second.
As soon as their fingers touched the back of Voldemort's knuckles, the Snapes' cottage disappeared.
The trio traveled at breakneck speed through unending tunnels of blackness and swirling, bright lights.
Finally, in one sickening lurch, Voldemort, Harriet, and Ellery concluded their journey.
Voldemort floated effortlessly to the ground while Ellery and Harriet smacked into the pavement with dull thuds.
Harriet dusted herself off while her brother held his head.
They took a few seconds to recover before they chased Voldemort as he began to glide up the steps to the brick building that stood in front of them.
Dark clouds in the night sky above made the words on the building's metal plaque seem like an ironic insult:
London Morning's Hospice and Palliative Care
Voldemort swung the door open and stepped inside as Ellery and Harriet trailed behind him.
He played his role as the somber, grieving son well while he approached the front desk.
Instead of a charming smile, in Severus's form, Voldemort cast the secretary a mournful frown once she looked up at him, Ellery, and Harriet.
"Good evening." The secretary nodded at the newcomers, "May I help you?"
"My name is Severus Snape." Voldemort lied in Severus's voice as he wore the face he had stolen, "I've come to visit my father."
"And his name?" The secretary asked.
Harriet glanced at Voldemort as she held her grandfather's name in her mind.
He didn't even have to look over at her to pluck it from her thoughts while he nodded at the secretary, "Tobias Snape."
"Of course, sir." The secretary smiled softly as she annotated her records, stood from her seat, and walked around her desk, "If you three will follow me, please, I'll take you to him straight away."
Ellery frowned.
Harriet blinked up at Voldemort in amazement.
As he glanced down and met her awestruck stare, an arrogant smirk twisted Severus's features.
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As Voldemort led Harriet and Ellery down the hallway towards Tobias's room, back at the Snapes' cottage, Severus squinted his eyes shut and gnashed his teeth.
He lay in bed asleep, trapped in a nightmare from which he could not free himself.
Lily called out for him.
Harriet and Ellery had been taken somewhere far away, carried off by his dark master, never to return.