AN: Haven't updated here in a while! I've been mulling over this story for over a year, and I hope y'all like it! Some moments might seem a little ooc, but for the most part I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's from the story that Snape tells Harry after his nightmare in chapter 3 of And Then There Were Three.

I've also been considering writing a prequel to As Potter is to Snape finally, showcasing Severus and Remus's adoptions and how they grew to not hate each other lol. I've got a pretty set in stone timeline for it, but I wonder if anyone would even be interested in reading it. Or do you prefer just having the one shots? Let me know!

Severus and Remus's Excellent Adventure in NYC

June 1977 - Summer after 6th year. Severus and Remus are both 17.

"No, Remus." Severus sat in his desk chair, leaning it back on two legs and propped his feet up onto his desk to keep himself from falling over. "They'll never let us go."

Remus blew out a breath from where he sat on Severus's bed. "You really are terrible at this," he said. "Of course they won't let us go. That's why we won't be asking."

When Severus remained quiet, Remus took that as a sign that he could continue telling him his plan. "Look, we missed them when they were in England this year, and you can't tell me that you didn't want to go." He stood up and moved around the bed to lean against the footboard, then held out the advertisement once again. "What are the chances that we'll ever be so close again, Sev? We have to go."

"Why?" Severus asked, finally lifting his head to glare at his adopted brother. "Why do we have to ruin a perfectly good vacation to go to a club that we're not old enough to be in, when we know that we'll get caught? And when we get caught Mum and Dad will absolutely murder us."

"Because it's going to be fun!" Remus exclaimed as if the concept was too much for Severus to understand. "And because we're going to New York and if we don't do something fun there, we'll be stuck doing only the stuff they want to do. We'll be carted around to museums, and every tourist attraction there is. They'll turn it into a field trip and you know it!"

Severus opened his mouth to interrupt but Remus was on a roll.

"Come on, Sev, it's the Ramones! And besides, we're seventeen now. We can bloody well go if we want. We're of age. We don't need Mum and Dad's approval for every little thing."

Severus didn't agree at all. Granted, he'd gotten into more trouble in the nearly three years since he'd been taken in by Albus and Minerva, he was still very much more of a rule follower than a rule breaker. He didn't think that they would agree that simply because he and Remus were seventeen now, that it meant they could do as they pleased. In fact, he was willing to bet every last sickle he had saved that they would most definitely disagree. It wasn't as if they had turned seventeen and left home to live their own lives. They still had an entire year left at Hogwarts. They could still get detention for Merlin's sake! It hadn't even been that long ago since Severus had gotten a Howler at breakfast for sneaking out to Hogsmeade with his dormmates. They'd been caught by Flitwick on their way back, and he'd promptly told Albus about it.

And yet, it was the Ramones. He looked from Remus, who was still standing in front of him, eyes wide as if pleading with him, back to the advertisement in his hand. He wasn't even sure where Remus had gotten the muggle flier in the first place.

CBGB

And

OMFUG

(at Bleecker)

Th. Fr. Sat. June 14, 15, 16

THE

RAMONES

RAMONES

RAMONES

Severus sighed. He knew he was going to regret this, but when would he get another chance? "I'm not saying yes, but if I were, how do you plan to get out of the hotel and into the club? We don't exactly have ID's."

Remus grinned. "I've already got all that figured out."

As it turned out, Remus had thought of everything. He'd floo'd to James' and after promising that he would bring him back an autograph, James lent him his invisibility cloak. Then Remus produced two fake IDs that stated he and Severus were old enough to be legally allowed to drink.

The plan itself was simple enough. They were going to be in New York for a week, and Albus had several Ministry meetings lined up the first day, so Minerva, Remus, and Severus were going to settle in and do a bit of sightseeing on their own. Then on the second day, they would all go out as a family and spend the whole day together.

And that is where their plan started. Remus and Severus had put together a whole list of things to do that would take them all over New York. They hoped that if they kept their parents going all day long, that they would turn in early that evening and they would be able to sneak out beneath the cloak.

They disguised themselves as muggles, which wasn't hard for Remus and Severus who owned plenty of jeans and t-shirts, but when Albus emerged from the hotel bathroom wearing green bell bottoms, a purple trench coat, and his signature waist length beard in a braid, Severus was sure that he would die of embarrassment. It took a bit of convincing, but he finally agreed to change into brown trousers and a simple creme shirt.

Minerva, having grown up with a muggle father, had done better and chose clothing that both suited her and fit in with the people in the city. When she walked into the front room of the hotel wearing a black skirt and a pretty floral top, Albus smiled brightly and before she could protest, he had taken her hand and pulled her close to him. "As beautiful as ever, my dear."

Minerva made a show of trying to push him away, but she was smiling all the same when he dropped a kiss to her forehead.

"No," Severus said, shaking his head from where he sat on the couch.

"Oi!" Remus exclaimed. "We're right here, you know?"

Albus laughed, his eyes twinkling as he looked between his wife and sons. "Would you like to go without us?"

"Yes," they replied in unison at the same time that Minerva said, "No!"

She stepped away from a still smiling Albus and tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear before picking up a small purse from the table. "This is maybe our last family vacation before you two will be off doing Merlin knows what, and I want it to be special. So we're going out together, we're going to have a great time, and everyone is going to be on their best behavior." She pointed at each of them in turn but her glare lingered on Albus. "This means you, too. We have a strict schedule to stick to if we're ever going to get through this list, and we will not be stopping at every single candy shop along the way."

"Yes, dear," Albus said, but as soon as Minerva turned around he winked at the boys.

Everything was working out perfectly. They spent the day traveling around the city, taking in the sights and attractions. They went to visit the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, walked around Central Park, ate hot dogs from a stand on a corner, and walked around two different museums. Then they'd gotten Chinese food for dinner before coming back to the hotel. And just like they predicted, Albus and Minerva were so tired that they turned in early.

"This is going to be so great!" Remus said excitedly as he took off the light blue t-shirt he'd worn out that day and then reached into his suitcase for the black Ramones shirt he'd brought with him from home.

Severus lay on his bed on the other side of the room. He had one leg hanging off the side and was using his wand to levitate the shirt out of Remus's reach.

"Hey, give it back," Remus said, grasping for the shirt only for Snape to send it flying across the room towards him.

"You can't wear that."

Remus looked at him curiously. "Why not? It's mine."

Severus nodded. "Sure. And wear it tomorrow. But you can't wear a band shirt to see that band perform. It's lame."

"Who says?"

"Everyone."

Remus seemed to take that at face value and turned back to his suitcase. "What are you wearing?"

Severus held his left hand out, gesturing to his boots, dark wash jeans with a ripped knee, and black shirt. "It's not that deep, Remus," he muttered as he levitated the shirt above him towards the ceiling, then twirled his hand, watching as the shirt spun around and around.

"Alright," Remus said after a moment. He'd pulled on a plain, dark red shirt that Minerva had gotten him only the week before, and was tugging at the neck of it, stretching it out so that it was looser. "Ready?" he asked.

Severus nodded and let the other shirt drop down to the bed before he stood and joined Remus by the door.

Remus pulled the invisibility cloak out of his backpack and quickly threw it over both of them before quietly opening the door to their room.

They crept through the living room of the hotel, pausing once when they thought they heard movement from their parent's room, then as quietly as possible, they opened the main door and slipped out into the hallway.

Normally, Remus was sure that they could have gotten away without using the cloak, but the entire reason they were here in New York in the first place was because of a Wizangomet gathering, and the hotel they were staying in was crawling with witches and wizards who not only knew their parents, but who would have taken one look at Severus and Remus and told on them the first chance they got. It wasn't a chance that the teenagers were willing to take.

So, they stayed hidden beneath the cloak until they were out of the hotel and down the street, just to be safe. They ducked into an alleyway before they pulled it off, then Remus tapped it with his wand and it immediately shrank down to the size of a pocket square.

Severus breathed a sigh of relief as Remus tucked the cloak into his pocket, then with a grin, they were off.

They didn't have a problem getting into the club. It seemed that nobody even cared that they were there, what with the massive crowd already pressing in against them. The main room was dimly lit, and Severus and Remus had to push through the smoke filled haze to get to the bar.

The music was so loud that Severus could feel it in his bones. He could hardly take his eyes off of the stage long enough to follow Remus to the bar.

"You boys have some ID?" asked the bartender when Remus stepped up.

They nodded and pulled out their fake IDs and held them up for him to see.

He plucked Remus's from his hand and studied it for a moment before handing it back. "Nice try, but I don't think so."

Remus's brows knit together as he looked between the card and the bartender who was shaking his head.

"You expect me to believe that you're twenty-five?" he asked.

"Well, I– I…"

Beside him, Severus groaned. "I told you," he murmured, too low to be heard over the noise in the club.

"Hey, why don't you come sit with us?"

Remus and Severus both turned their heads in time to see a woman step between them and drape an arm over each of their shoulders. She was a little older than them, with blonde hair, wearing a jean vest and tight pink pants.

"Carla," the bartender said, "they're just a couple of kids. Leave 'em alone."

The teens exchanged looks before glancing back to where she'd indicated, only to find a table with two other women drinking and smiling at them.

"Okay," Severus said at the same time that Remus nodded. "Sure."

"Carla."

"Relax, Bobby," Carla said, smiling up at him, "we're just gonna have some fun."

They followed her over to the table, and as soon as Severus sat down, one of the other women moved her chair closer to him. She had dark hair and bright blue eyes.

"I'm Laura," she said, raising her voice to be heard over the music. "What's your name?"

Severus glanced at Remus, but he was already pulled into a conversation with the blonde who had talked to them first. "Severus," he answered.

Laura leaned across the table, letting one hand fall to rest on Severus's arm. "Where are you from?"

"Britain," he said, "We're here on holiday."

The other woman in the group, another blonde who looked older than them, reached over to grab one of the drinks from the middle of the table. "Here," she said, pressing it into his hand. "I'm Simone."

Severus nodded his thanks before taking the first drink.

The minutes passed quickly and so did the drinks. Severus was pretty sure he'd only had two before the girls had ordered shots, but his head felt too fuzzy to be able to remember properly. Simone had found her own partner and disappeared a while ago, leaving the table to the two younger couples.

The band played but Severus's attention never strayed from Laura, who was currently leaning in close to him, letting her hand travel up his thigh as she left feather soft kisses along his jaw.

The moment was interrupted, however, when a heavy hand landed on Severus's shoulder, causing him to jump back.

He looked up to find a mustached police officer glaring down at him.

"Remus," Severus said, hoping his brother would hear him.

But Remus was too preoccupied with Carla to pay him any mind.

Severus reached over and shook Remus's shoulder. "Remus!" he nearly shouted.

"What?!" Remus broke away from Carla to tell Severus to leave him alone, but when he looked up and saw the police officer, the complaint died on his lips. "Oh."

"Oh, is right," the officer said. He gestured for the boys to stand up, but as soon as Remus stood, the room began to swim and he shook his head to try and clear it.

Beside him, Severus didn't seem to be much better.

"I'm officer Reagan, and I hear you two have a couple of really convincing IDs," the officer said, though if the smirk he wore were any indication, he was being more sarcastic than serious. "Let's have 'em."

With a sigh, Severus and Remus took out the IDs and passed them to him.

Just as the bartender had done, the officer took one look at them and then shook his head. "How old are you really? Because nobody is going to believe you two are twenty-five."

Remus sighed. "Seventeen."

Officer Reagan appeared to be trying to hold back a grin. "Do you boys know what the legal drinking age is here?"

"No, but I'm going to go on a limb here and guess that it's not seventeen," Severus said with a roll of his eyes.

Remus elbowed him in the side, but the officer didn't seem to mind the cheek. If anything, Severus thought his eyes were twinkling a bit like Albus's.

"Eighteen," he answered at last. "Not that I'm condoning breaking the law or anything, but that might have been a good thing for you both to know. Bobby might have actually believed you were eighteen."

Both boys groaned loudly at that, but at the mention of the bartender, Severus turned to him. "You called him, didn't you?"

Bobby shrugged his shoulders as he wiped down the bar with a rag. "Trust me, kid, you'll thank me later."

Severus turned to glance back at Laura and Carla, who looked quite put out that their fun was over, then back to Bobby. "I really doubt that," he snapped.

"Alright," said Officer Reagan, "let's go."

Both Severus and Remus wanted to argue, but they knew they had no chance. Instead, they grudgingly followed the man back through the crowds and out of the club.

Once out on the sidewalk, Officer Reagan stopped them when he turned back to face them. "Where do you live?"

"London," Severus answered quickly before stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Remus cast him a sidelong look before he said, "We're visiting with our parents, sir."

"Ah. So then where is your hotel? I'll take you there."

"No," Severus said at once.

"Sev," Remus warned, giving him another look.

The officer didn't seem fazed though. He simply stood up a little straighter, and let his hands rest on his utility belt in a way that Remus thought made him look both calm and in charge all at the same time. "Look, young man," he said, "I don't have all night here. You can either tell me what hotel you're staying at, and I'll take you there, or I can take you down to the station where you'll just have to call your parents and have them come out and get you." He looked down at his watch. "It's already a quarter til one in the morning. Do you really think that's something they're going to be happy about having to do?"

Severus swallowed hard but remained quiet.

Remus shook his head. He tried to take stock of their situation. They'd snuck out and gone to a club that they knew was off limits. They'd gotten drunk with those women– and Remus could admit that they were exceptionally drunk considering the fact that the officer in front of them had just split and there were now three of him. And they were currently about to be arrested unless one of them told Officer Reagan where the hotel was.

Merlin, they were dead if they went home. Of course, if they didn't go home and Albus and Minerva had to be called in the middle of the night to come get them, they would be dead anyway.

"We're staying at the one on Kenmare Street," he said at last. "I don't remember what it's called."

"Remus," Severus said with a glare pointed in his direction.

"Shut up, Sev," Remus shot back. "It's not like they're not going to find out either way. And it'll be so much worse if they have to come get us."

Severus didn't say anything else so Remus turned back to Officer Reagan.

"We would appreciate it if you just took us there, sir?"

"I know the place," he said, then pointed to his patrol car parked beside the curb. "Hop in."

The very last thing Severus had wanted to do was 'hop in,' the back of a police car, but it looked like he had no choice in the matter. Remus was already inside and with a sigh, Severus slid in beside him.

Officer Reagan shut the door before getting in behind the wheel.

Severus glared at Remus. "This is all your fault," he said. "I told you this was a bad idea."

"Yeah, because I forced you to come along," Remus shot back. "You looked happy enough to be there when that girl had her hand–"

"Hey!" Officer Reagan snapped and both boys grew quiet.

Severus let his head rest against the window and closed his eyes. It did little to help the churning in his stomach.

It didn't take long before they got back to the hotel, and the elevator ride up to the eighth floor seemed to go way too fast because the next thing he knew, Severus and Remus were standing outside the door to their suite.

Officer Reagan gave a quick knock before he stepped back to wait.

A moment later there was noise from the other side and Severus heard his mother say, "Albus, it's the police."

Severus exchanged a glance with Remus and sighed.

The door opened and there Albus and Minerva stood, looks of confusion on their faces as Albus said, "Good evening, Officer. Can I help you?"

Officer Reagan nodded. "Mr. Dumbledore, I think I have something that belongs to you," he said before reaching over to where Severus and Remus were standing with their backs against the wall, out of sight at first glance. He placed a hand around each of their upper arms and pulled them in front of him.

Minerva gasped but Albus only looked down at them. "I see," he said quietly before standing back, indicating that they should all step inside.

Severus and Remus kept their heads bowed as they crossed the threshold into their hotel suite. Officer Reagan walked in behind them and closed the door.

"The bartender at CBGB's called me when they tried to pass off some fake IDs." He passed the ID cards to Albus who glanced down at them before looking sternly at the boys.

"When I got there, they were drinking with a couple of women, but as far as I can tell they were only drinking. I didn't see any evidence that they may have been smoking or doing any kind of drugs, though there was plenty they could have gotten their hands on."

Minerva's eyes widened as she said, "Severus? Remus?"

"We didn't," Severus was quick to assure her, lifting his head to meet her gaze. "We were only drinking, I swear."

"Only drinking is bad enough, young man," she scolded and Severus dropped his head once more. He was glad his hair was so long, that way no one would see how red the tips of his ears had become.

Albus turned the conversation back to the officer. "Thank you for bringing them home. Is there anything I need to do?"

Officer Reagan shook his head. "No, I didn't arrest them or anything. I've been in their shoes," he said with a laugh. "Though I'd maybe keep them out of the bars til they're old enough."

"Oh, of that you can be certain," Minerva said so sternly that Remus gave a soft groan.

Officer Reagan gave the boys a quick pat on the shoulder before tipping his hat at them all. "Well, I'll get out of your way, then. Good night."

As soon as the door closed behind him, Albus and Minerva turned toward the boys.

"Of all the foolish, idiotic, ridiculous things!" Minerva shouted just as Albus threw up a silencing spell around the room. "What were you thinking?!"

"We were just–" Remus started but Minerva cut him off.

"You were supposed to be in bed, not gallivanting around the city in the middle of the night and sneaking into clubs!"

"We didn't sneak in though," Remus said quickly. "No one even cared that we were there."

That, Severus thought, was decidedly the wrong thing to say.

Minerva's eyes narrowed. "I care that you were there."

Albus, speaking for the first time, asked, "How did you get these cards? And how did you get out of the hotel without someone seeing you?"
Remus sighed. "I made them," he answered quietly. "And I borrowed James's invisibility cloak."

Albus held out his hand but Remus shook his head. "Dad, you can't just keep it. It belongs to James, and I–"

"I have no intention of keeping the cloak, Remus," Albus assured him, "But I will be holding on to it until we get home."

"Speaking of home," Minerva said, "I think we ought to leave first thing in the morning."

"What?!" Severus exclaimed at the same time that Remus said, "But we only just got here!"

"And it took you both less than two days to sneak out of the hotel and get caught drinking!"

"No, that's not fair," argued Remus. "We're seventeen, you know! We're of age. By wizarding rules, we're allowed to do whatever we want, including drinking! You can't tell us what to do anymore."

Severus turned then to glare at his brother. "Would you stop helping?! You're making everything worse!"

"Shut up, Severus! As if you were doing any better by talking back to that cop. He almost arrested us because of you."

"Enough!" Albus said, his voice taking on a hard edge that he rarely used with anyone, least of all with his sons.

Severus and Remus both grew quiet and dropped their gazes to the floor.

"Remus, the cloak, please."

Remus shoved his hand into his front pocket and pulled out the shrunken cloak. As soon as he passed it to Albus, it transformed back to its original size and he used his wand to send it to his and Minerva's bedroom. Remus watched it go with a frown. If the apparition instructor hadn't come down with a terrible case of Dragon Pox right before their exam, he and Severus would have had their license and could have simply apparated to the club and wouldn't have had to use the cloak in the first place. As it was, their exam had been rescheduled for the beginning of next term.

"Severus," Albus said, drawing their attention back to him, "were you disrespectful to the officer who brought you home?"

"I… well, I mean I–"

"Yes or no?"

Severus sighed. "Yes, sir."

Albus nodded. "That is very disappointing to hear. I would hope that no matter the circumstances in which you find yourself, that you would behave with integrity and show others the same respect that you would show me. Especially when that person is trying to help you. Is that quite clear?"

Severus blushed at the rebuke. "Yes, sir."

Albus nodded before turning to Remus. He ran his hand through his beard, which was still much shorter than usual as he said, "Remus, remind me, how old are Mr. Black and Mr. Potter?"

Remus's eyebrows creased as he answered, "Sirius is eighteen, and James is seventeen, you know that, Dad."

"And Sirius has moved in with James now, correct?"

"Er, yes, sir."

Severus had a feeling that Remus was about to dig himself into a hole, but he wasn't about to interrupt.

"Didn't the elder Mr. Potter just place both of them on restriction recently for flying Sirius's motorbike over the heads of some Muggles in London?"

Severus nearly snorted. Remus, meet hole, he thought. He reached his hand up and pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Just shut up," he murmured. "Shut up, shut up, shut up."

"Severus," Minerva scolded.

"What?" Severus asked innocently. "I told him that wouldn't work."

"Well, I don't see you coming up with any ideas to get us out of this," Remus said, annoyed.

"That's because I know it's pointless," Severus shot back.

Albus cleared his throat and the boys grew quiet once more, but a long look at Remus had the teenager squirming as he quarreled between wanting to stand his ground on the subject, and realizing that he was at least a tiny bit wrong.

Eventually, he sighed. "Okay, okay, I get it. We were wrong and we still have to listen to you."

"I'm glad we agree," Albus said with a hint of a smile. He turned toward Minerva and said, "As this is likely our last family vacation before the boys finish school, what if we didn't cut it short? We could perhaps stay and enjoy the rest of our time here. After all, there were several things that we didn't get to do ourselves, yet."

Minerva pursed her lips as she looked from her husband over to her boys, who were both giving her varying degrees of puppy dog looks. "Alright, fine, but they don't get to pick any of the next things we do. And they will stay in the hotel room on Sunday night so that we can go to Wizarding Broadway to catch a show, and go out to dinner together."

"That sounds agreeable to me," Albus said.

"And the trip to McTawny Broomsticks is canceled, as is to the City's Apothecary."

"But McTawny's is–"

"Mum, the apothecary is the only place I can get the–"

"Canceled," Minerva said sharply. "And you're both grounded when we get home. And don't bother asking for how long because I haven't decided yet."

They didn't dare protest any more.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Fine," Severus said, thoroughly put out at this turn of events. "But couldn't we just–"

"Severus," Albus warned.

"I mean, yes, ma'am," he amended.

"Wonderful," Albus said with a clap, the twinkle once again reappearing as if they had just been having a sweet family get together instead of doling out punishments for their two wayward teenagers. "Now, it is very late and I believe it is time for all of us to be in bed."

Severus and Remus nodded before walking toward their shared bedroom.

"And boys," Albus said before they could disappear inside, "we will of course, expect you both to be up and ready for breakfast in the morning. I think we shall start with a tour of MACUSA. Doesn't that sound fun?"

Severus didn't think that sounded fun at all, in fact, that sounded like the opposite of fun, but he wasn't about to tell him that. "Sounds great, Dad," he said instead, then practically shoved Remus into their room.

He was now sure that this was going to be a rather long vacation.