Arresto Tempus
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

Warning: Completely AU (means not canon compliant!), partly OOC.

Once Lily had retired to her room, Severus retrieved from a bookshelf a bottle of whisky that the headmaster had given him for Christmas last year and that he thought he would never drink. He poured himself a generous swig.

'Are you happy that your number one nemesis is dead?' a very annoying voice spoke from the back of his mind.

'Of course not,' he thought back, indignantly. 'Potter wasn't my number one nemesis anyway. That was Black. He was the one who tried to kill me.'

'Was it a good idea to invite her to live together with you, when her husband hadn't been dead for more than an hour?'

'Ah, shut up. She and her son need to be kept safe,' Severus all but mentally growled at the annoying voice.

'So, you're going to take her husband's place?'

'Of course not,' Severus replied swallowing the whisky in one big gulp. 'I'd better go to bed, before that annoying voice starts making any more nonsense.'

HP

During the night, Lily was plagued by nightmares. Every so often, she would wake up after having seen Voldemort casting the killing curse on her and Harry. She would reach out for James' reassuring figure, only to pull back in devastation, when her hand found only her baby lying beside her.

'He's gone,' she told herself before crying herself back to sleep. When Harry woke her in the morning, she felt as if she had been run over by a hippogriff.

'I'll just have to get through this and pull myself together for Harry's sake. He only has me now,' she thought, as she picked up the baby and carried him to the fully equipped changing table, feeling extremely grateful for Severus' and Cicero's thoughtfulness.

'I hope James doesn't mind that I followed Sev to Hogwarts,' she thought. 'I couldn't have stayed in the house. Everything would have reminded me of him, and Sirius said it was badly damaged anyway. With Severus, I feel really safe.'

Once she and Harry were dressed, Lily stepped out into the hall with Harry toddling behind her carrying his teddy and telling it some sort of story in a whisper too small for her to understand. To her surprise, Severus, Albus and Minerva were sitting in Severus' small kitchen and seemed to be waiting for them. The table was loaded with breakfast dishes, and Lily had to admit that it smelled inviting.

"Good morning." She smiled at the professors.

"Good mowning," Harry echoed and grinned broadly upon recognising the adults. "Gwanddad, Gwanny Mina and Uncy Sevvy." He ran around the table and tried to climb on Albus' lap, grinning, when the old wizard pulled him up.

"Hello Harry, how are you on this fine morning?"

"I'm good. Are we at Hogwawts?" he replied, curiously looking around.

"Yes, my boy, that you are," the headmaster replied, pleasantly. "Do you remember what happened last night?"

Harry shuddered slightly, before he gave a small nod in reply. "Bad man came and lots of green lights."

"Yes, my boy, and you did very well to save your mother's life and yours."

"Mummy!" Harry grinned, broadly, before he slid down from the headmaster's lap and ran around the table to her.

Lily scooped him up and placed him in the high chair that stood between her and Severus' seat.

"Dada?" Harry asked, tentatively.

Lily slightly shook her head. "No, Harry, Daddy can't be here with us now."

"Harry is a hero," Albus spoke up. "However, I do not think anyone should know that Harry is a time mage and can also use wish magic. That is why I told everyone that you managed to defeat Voldemort."

Lily stared at the headmaster in horror. "But I didn't… I couldn't…"

"Calm down, Lily." Severus' voice was soothing and made her give him a grateful look. "I, too, believe that it would be for the best if no one knew of Harry's involvement. He would be worshipped as a hero at such a young age, which would be a terrible burden for such a young child. Therefore, it will be you who is going to receive the Order of Merlin first class for defeating Voldemort."

Lily groaned, even though she had to admit to herself that Albus and Severus were right. She nodded, gravely. "I understand, and even if I don't like it, I'll do it for Harry. Sirius knows the truth though. Will he keep quiet?"

"Black doesn't know anything," Severus almost growled. "He was too busy accusing me of being happy about Potter's death. He didn't even ask how the two of you survived."

"Oh, all right, that's fine then. Sorry, but I am so confused."

"That is perfectly understandable. You fought Voldemort, duelled him and managed to defeat him, as far as the public is concerned. And now, I believe that the house-elves have prepared a wonderful breakfast for us, which should not go to waste."

'Typical Albus,' Lily thought, as she buttered a slice of toast for Harry and placed it on the plate in front of him along with some fresh fruit. "Don't you have classes to teach?" she then remembered to ask.

"Due to Voldemort's demise, which clearly warrants for a celebration, I have cancelled today's and tomorrow's classes." Albus smirked. "That should give you some time to settle in and for all of us to discuss some outstanding issues."

"Such as?" Severus quirked an eyebrow.

"Such as…" Albus lifted a large piece of syrupy waffle into his mouth and chewed pleasantly, before he continued, "… why there was no body and whether Voldemort is really gone."

"Oh right." Lily slapped her forehead. "Sorry, it completely slipped my mind, but when the killing curse hit, he slumped to the floor and then vanished from the spot. Do you think he wasn't really dead but still able to apparate away?"

"No, my dear." Albus shook his head. "I suppose you know that Severus has been working as our spy?"

Lily nodded.

"He told me that the Dark Mark has faded. It is not completely gone; therefore, we assume that Voldemort is not truly dead but might manage to return in some form at some point, but for now, he is gone."

Lily frowned, as she looked from the headmaster to the Potions professor. "How is that possible?"

"Some kind of very dark and foul magic," Severus supplied. "Albus is looking into it. Perhaps, Black will be able to assist."

"Severus!" Lily lightly scolded her best friend. "Sirius is not into the Dark Arts."

"Of course not, but as the last remaining Black, he should have access to the Black library, in which whatever method the Dark Lord used should be mentioned."

The headmaster nodded. "I shall discuss this with Sirius later today. Now, the question is what you are going to do at Hogwarts?"

Lily gave him a shocked look. "Please let me stay here until I've found another place for us to live."

"Lily, that was not the question," Severus said, reassuringly. "You can stay in my rooms for as long as you wish. I believe Albus wanted to know if you'd be willing to work at Hogwarts."

"With pleasure." Lily smiled. "But what could I do, especially considering that I'm going to have to raise Harry all by myself?"

Minerva spoke for the first time. "You are not alone. We'll all help raising the cutie. As to what you could do, we have several positions which you'd be predestined to fill. It depends what you wish to do."

"For example?" Lily looked at her mentor in excitement.

"For example, you could become my successor as head of Gryffindor. I have enough work as Transfiguration professor and deputy headmistress. If you'd prefer to take my position as deputy headmistress, we could work something out. Besides, Severus has the triple workload of being Potions professor, Potions master and head of Slytherin. I am certain that he would appreciate you taking over some of his classes or brewing duties. Filius and Poppy would also appreciate some help."

Severus cleared his throat. "Frankly speaking, I don't enjoy teaching the dunderheads. The NEWT classes are acceptable; however, if you could take over the first to fifth year classes, I'd be grateful."

Lily grinned, being well able to imagine Severus' impatience with dunderheads as he used to call ninety percent of their classmates, when it came to Potions. "I'd like to teach Potions," she replied, smiling. "I can also see myself being head of Gryffindor, if you believe that both positions would be manageable while raising Harry."

"We could all take turns looking after him in our free periods. Albus and Poppy, in particular, could take him during lessons." Minerva thought for a moment before suggesting, "Albus, why don't we get someone to look after the little ones? As you know, Neville Longbottom is only a day older than Harry, and his parents both work in the Auror Office. I imagine Alice would be happy to send Neville to Hogwarts instead of having Augusta teach him all day."

"My godson, Draco Malfoy, is the same age."

"Then, all we have to do is find a suitable teacher," Albus said, pleasantly. "Lily, what is Remus Lupin doing now? Is he working?"

Lily shook her head. "As a werewolf, it is very difficult for him to find a permanent job. I think he'd make a brilliant teacher though. He's the most patient of us all, and Harry adores him."

"Would you be willing to help me brew the wolfsbane potion for him?" Severus arched an eyebrow at her.

"I've heard of it." Lily turned to Severus in excitement. "It makes the werewolf keep his wits during the transformation, right?"

Severus nodded. "Exactly. Perhaps, while we're brewing it, we can try to develop a cure for lycanthropy."

"I'm in." Lily grinned broadly.

By now, everyone had finished eating their breakfast, and Albus promised to draw up the contract for Lily and offer Remus the teaching job, while Minerva would ask the Longbottoms if they were interested in a playschool for Neville. Severus would ask the Malfoys at the first opportunity. He and Lily would spend the day with Harry, intending to go over their lesson plans, when the baby was asleep.

HP

To Lily's relief, Remus accepted Albus' offer and moved to Hogwarts, where the headmaster assigned him his own quarters on the following day. The Longbottoms readily agreed to send Neville to Hogwarts every morning to have him play with Harry and eventually some other children under Remus' tutelage.

The Malfoys accepted Severus' invitation and joined Severus, Lily and Harry after breakfast the following morning to introduce the two boys to each other and discuss other matters.

Lily was on her guard, when Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the fireplace followed closely by his wife with Draco in her arms. 'He was one of the most vigorous Death Eaters, and he'll resent me for defeating his master,' she could not help thinking, even if Severus had tried to convince her otherwise.

"At first, he was, but then his opinion slowly changed, but there was no way for him to just back down," he had told her.

Still, Lucius' behaviour took her by surprise. "Severus," he greeted his friend and thanked him for the invitation before turning to her. "Mrs. Potter, I believe I owe you a debt of gratitude for getting rid of the Dark Lord."

"Perhaps, I should say I'm sorry." She smirked. "Unfortunately, I can't do that."

"Just as you don't have to." Narcissa smiled broadly. "In fact, you've done us a great favour."

"Just like Severus," Lucius continued, "I've made an enormous mistake, but you can't tell the Dark Lord that you no longer wish to follow him. It would be an instant death sentence." He slightly inclined his head. "Please accept our deepest gratitude."

Lily smiled, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the children had taken matters into their own hands and were introducing themselves to each other.

"Hello, I am Dwaco," the older boy said, holding out his hand to Harry.

Her son shook the other boy's hand. "Hi Dwaco. I Hawwy."

While the adults discussed the matter of the Dark Lord's demise as well as their planned playschool class with Remus Lupin, their former classmate, the children were peacefully building a giant castle from a box of Lego blocks that Harry had received from Sirius a few weeks ago.

HP

Later that day, after the Malfoys had returned home and Draco was fast asleep in bed, Narcissa entered Lucius' study, something she usually never did.

Lucius looked up from his work. "Narcissa." He sounded surprised.

"Lucius, I want another baby."

His eyes narrowed. "What? But you always said…"

"I know what I said," she replied, impatiently. "But with the Dark Lord gone and Lily Potter pregnant…"

"Is she?"

Narcissa smiled. "Have you forgotten that it's a speciality of us Black women to detect a pregnancy before the woman herself has noticed it?"

Lucius rolled his eyes, before he noxed the lights and followed his wife into their bedroom. "Let's get on with it then."

HP

At the same time, the conversation in Severus Snape's living room was much more dire.

"We must train Harry well." Albus let out a deep sigh. "The last two days, I've been doing some research on time mages in history. Every two hundred years or so, there has been a time mage, and ninety percent of them have gotten themselves killed under the age of thirty by abusing their power."

tbc...

Thank you for the kind reviews for the first chapter. Please tell me what you liked and disliked in this chapter. What do you think of the Malfoys' reaction? Any ideas, suggestions or constructive opinions are welcome.