It took almost 30 minutes before Harry could continue with the presentation of his future. The only difference compared to earlier was the knowledge that this part would solely focus on his mentor and parental figure.

James and Lily decided they wanted to sit near Harry and, by extension Snape, so the man extended the couch to allow for three more people. When questioned, he said, "There is no doubt in my mind that Draco won't end up coming here once he realizes Harry and I are here."

Once everyone was back in the room and seated, the Pensieve started again.

[Eight Months Later]

"Wait, what? Do we not get to see what happened next?" a second-year, enthusiastic Ravenclaw asks.

Voice over: Severus Snape. Visionary. Genius. American patriot. Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Tobias Snape quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four, he built his first circuit board. At age six, his first engine. And at 19, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT. Then, the passing of a titan. Tobias Snape's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder until, at age 21, the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of Snape Industries. With the keys to the kingdom, Severus ushers in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, satellite targeting. Today, Severus Snape has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe.

Anyone with the faintest idea of what was said stares at Snape in shock.

[A man is standing at a podium, holding an award]

James Rhodes: As liaison to Snape Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot.

"Uncle Rhodey!" Harry shouts with excitement. Snape chuckles at the young hero.

James and Lily look at each other and mouth "Uncle" to each other.

Rhodey: He is my friend and he is my great mentor.

Snape snorts. "Yeah, sure, Rhodey-bear. If anything, he's my mentor."

Rhodey: Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honour to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Severus Snape.

[He looks around and doesn't see Snape anywhere]

Lily whips her head to face Snape. "You didn't show up to your award ceremony?" She looks shocked, and no one can blame her.

"No," he shakes his head. "I always get those, and I don't like crowds."

Harry snorts, drawing attention to him. "Yet you can get them to do what you want when you want it."

Snape smirks at that, causing many to shiver at the thought.

[Obadiah Stane stands once he realizes Snape isn't there, hurrying professionally to the Colonel. He takes the award]

Stane: Thank you, Colonel.

Rhodey: Thanks for the save.

Snape and Harry are glaring at the man in front of them, both starting to growl, which confuses most.

Stane: This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful. Well, I'm not Severus Snape. But if I were Severus, I would tell you how honoured I feel and what a joy it is to receive this prestigious award. Severus, you know... The best thing about Severus is also the worst thing. He's always working.

"You were working instead of getting an award?" the Gryffindor prefect asked in utter shock. How could someone not want to get an award?

Snape shrugs. "As I said, I already have plenty of awards, and all they do is sit there gathering dust and being useless."

[Snape is in his workshop with Harry. The two are working on blueprints for a new project to help the spider children with sensory overload]

"That's your workshop?" As his friends call him, Huffy, a fourth-year Hufflepuff, practically drools at sight.

Snape and Harry nodded enthusiastically with huge grins.

[Rhodey walks into the workshop after putting in his entry code. He is carrying the award]

Rhodey: You are unbelievable.

Harry: Oh, no! Did they rope you into this?

[Harry snarks while smirking at Rhodey. Snape is trying to hold back obvious laughs while Rhodey is staring at the two in mock offence]

Rhodey: Nobody roped me into anything!

"I already love your friendship!"

"I love how Harry has so much snark in him."

Snape: I'm so sorry. You know how much I'm not too fond of those things. I'm getting awarded because I make weapons of mass destruction while trying to get the board to let me make something that would help people.

[Snape looks at his friend with sadness in his eyes. Harry goes over to hug the man]

A pure-blood Gryffindor looked confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Snape looks uncomfortable with the attention on him at the moment. "I'm sure it will show what I mean, but if you meant the board, that is something I can explain now." He takes a deep breath. "The board is an assortment of people who help make the big discissions for the company. They refused to change from selling destruction to selling help."

Rhodey: I know, man. As a military man, I have to say they help us, but I know why you feel this way.

Snape: Don't worry, Honey Bear! I understand your point of view as well.

[The two hug for a moment before Harry squirms in between them, causing the two to laugh when they realize they forgot Harry was in between them]

Rhodey: You forgot the little guy was there!

Snape: You did two!

[Harry is pouting]

"Awe! You look adorable," Lily tells her son. Harry looks at her with a red face but hugs her tightly. James smiles at the interaction before meeting Snapes' eyes over the two heads. They share nod before turning back to the front.

[Rhodey goes to leave, waving at Harry]

Rhodey: Bye, you two. Tomorrow, don't be late.

Snape: You know I will, Rhodey.

Harry: You know he will be, Uncle Rhodey.

Chuckles ring out through the Great Hall.

Dumbledore growls faintly; the only difference is this time, Minerva hears him. She's confused as to why seeing Harry and Severus Snape happy would make him so mad.

[The following day, outside the Snape Industries building, Happy and Snape are talking after getting back from grabbing some coffee and breakfast when a woman stops them]

Christine Everhart: Mr. Snape! Excuse me, Mr. Snape! Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?

Happy: She's cute.

"Who is he, and why would it matter if she's cute?" Sirius asks with a raised eyebrow.

Snape snorts, "It doesn't. A code tells me he knows her and that she's a real reporter. Can't tell you how many people pretended to be one to get information out of me."

Some we worried by that last statement but decided not to say anything.

Snape: She's alright? Hi!

[When he turns to face her, he smiles brightly]

Christine: Hi.

Snape: Yeah. Okay-

Christine: It's okay?

Snape: Go.

Christine: You've been called the da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?

"Does she mean the painter?"

Snape: Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint.

Harry giggles. "Don't you mean Riddiculus?"

Snape whips his head to face the boy with narrowed eyes. "Keep that up, and I'll sell all your books."

"No, you won't."

"Damn, he can see through my threats!" Snape hisses to himself, causing Lily and James to snicker.

James usually would have told Snape off for such a statement, but the look on Harry's face told him instantly that the man didn't mean what he said.

Christine: And what do you say to your other nickname? "The Merchant of Death"?

[Snape bristles at the name, face growing stoney]

Snape: That's not bad. Let me guess. Berkeley?

"I'm guessing another muggle school?" Lucius asks his friend, earning a nod from the man.

Christine: Brown, actually.

Snape: Well, Ms. Brown. It's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals.

[Snapes' face shows controlled anger while his jaw tightens at being called out for not having the chance to change his company]

Christine: You rehearse that much?

Severus: Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime.

[His sarcasm is palpable]

Christine: All I want is a serious answer.

"Well, she's just rude." No one knows who said it; all they know is they all agreed with that statement—even the people who still don't like Severus Snape.

Snape: Okay, here's serious. My old man had a philosophy, "Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy."

Christine: That's a great line from the guy selling the sticks.

A muggle-born Gryffindor perked up at that. "Did your father sell wands?"

Severus snorted, drawing attention to him instead of his future self, who looked quite uncomfortable with the question. "My father is a muggle who hates everything to do with magic. Threw me against a wall and down a flight of stairs on two separate occasions of accidental magic."

Lily looks pained at that but doesn't say anything. Sirius, however, didn't have those qualms and neither did Remus.

"So you're telling me you're being abused and haven't done anything?" Remus was shocked, but his face showed fury that Severus seemed to take the attacks.

Severus laughs bitterly, shaking his head. Dumbledore tenses faintly, knowing the Slytherin boy would expose him. He goes to speak but finds he can't. Upon looking around, he notices Pomfrey glaring and her wand pointed at him.

"No, I did tell three people." When he says that, Slughorn tenses faintly but has no outward change. Pomfrey notices, however, and turns to glare at the man as well. "I told Dumbledore every year before summer that he hated me, my mother, and magic in general, but clearly, that's not enough reason to refuse to go to that hellhole."

Almost every student, minus Slytherins, turn to look at Dumbledore with a look of betrayal. Those looks only get worse when Severus continues.

"Madam Pomfrey knew as well, but that's because she found the whip scars all over my back when I was sent to the hospital wing in the third year after my legs were turned to jelly while walking downstairs." The Marauders look down at the mention of that 'prank.'

Pomfrey speaks up, taking over for Severus, who is now shaking with the knowledge that everyone knows his home life. "I sent my report and Severus' medical file to Dumbledore as I am legally required to do. It was his job to read it and then send it to the Ministry for the Child Care Services to take care of."

"Naturally," Snape continues for the both of them. "I also had to inform my Head of House, Slughorn. Who told me in not so many words that he didn't care about some poor half-blood."

There's an outraged cry from many people, including every single Slytherin student. Most Slytherin students don't like Severus but don't like the idea of a child's parent abusing them, especially when that child is more productive than the parent. Some of the students squarely on Voldemort's side only react because if they don't, it would be easy to tell what side they're truly on in this war.

It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down to allow the Pensieve to continue the viewing.

Snape: My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero.

Christine: And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering.

Harry raises an eyebrow at that. "She does realize that weapons manufacturing is a legal profession and that there's no peace without war, right?"

Many need clarification on Harry's statement, but James is the only one to ask. "What do you mean by that, Harry?"

Turning to his father, he explains, "To have peace, you need to have war, but having war doesn't mean you'll get peace. That doesn't matter, though, when every country can't trust each other. War is started from fear and ends with just as much fear as before."

Many stare, while others are thinking about what the boy said. He knows what he's saying.

[Snape narrows his eyes at the woman, face turned sour]

Snape: Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey.

"And there's the Severus Snape sass," Lily cheers, causing both Severus and Snape to blush bright red. Harry is smirking.

Christine: You ever lose an hour of sleep your whole life?

[She asks with a look in her eyes, showing she doesn't care about the help he's given, only the harm]

Snape: Almost every single night.

[She's taken aback by that final statement before he goes through the door]

"Damn," slips from many mouths. Of course, the professors want to correct the students in their language. Still, they need help finding it in themselves to think differently. So they'll let it slide this one time.

[A redhead is standing near the secretary's desk, discussing mildly with the pregnant woman while Christine sneaks into the building. However, once she tries to enter a locked door that's clearly for staff, only a voice rings out above them]

JARVIS: You are not authorized to access this area.

Christine: Jesus!

[She jumps back, unfortunately for her, she bumps into the redhead]

Snape winces. "Oh, she messed up very badly."

"Oh, but Sev! Don't you know that seeing Miss Potts in action is the best thing ever?" Harry exclaims. Snape snickers, nodding his agreement with the boy.

Pepper: That's JARVIS. He runs the building.

Christine: You must be the famous Pepper Potts.

Pepper: Indeed I am.

Christine: After all these years, Severus still has you as a secretary assistant?

[The woman thinks she knows what she's talking about but by the look on Pepper's face, she doesn't]

Snape's eyes are wide with horror. "Oh, she should not have said that to Pepper."

Harry, on the other hand, is laughing. "No, no! She should have! Now Pepper can tear her a new one."

Many are very concerned about what is going to happen to the woman.

Pepper: I do anything and everything that Mr. Snape requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash. Will that be all?

[Pepper's eyes are blazing with a challenge]

"So that's what you meant..." many whispers.

James watches and eyes Snape. Snape catches his eyes and motions for them to talk later. James, however, chooses now instead. He is dragging the man out into the corridor, causing Harry and Lily to follow in concern.

Once all four of them are in the corridor, James speaks, "Who's she?"

"Virginia Potts. I gave her the nickname Pepper; the story will come soon." Snape answers with finality, not wanting to answer any more questions about the woman.

On the other hand, Harry had no such feelings, "Let's not forget that you're married now." Snape turns to glare at Harry, grinning from ear to ear.

Lily looks at Snape with faint concern. Before she can even ask, he notices her look and sighs. "No, Lily. It's not because I haven't gotten over your death. I just loved people who'll tell me when I go overboard and can help me fix any mistakes I make."

Lily nods, her concern still there due to Snape not denying that he wasn't over her death but reduced, knowing that he has found someone to love genuinely and who loves him back.

While his mother and father figure are talking, Harry turns to his father. "I need to tell you something."

James is slightly shocked, not knowing if his son will tell him something concerning. "Of course, Harry. What is it?"

"I need to tell you that-" he cuts himself off, wringing his hands in a nervous gesture. "I need to tell you that I think of Sev as a father figure and have called him dad or father on multiple occasions."

James stops him before he can get further. "Harry, I might not like Snape, but you deserve to have a father figure in your life." He brings Harry into a hug. Do you consider Pepper a mother figure as well?" Harry nods. "Then I'm glad you have people who love and care for you."

After all, was said and done, the group returned to the Great Hall to continue their viewing.

Harry and Snape are happy to see the next scene because both have fun before Snape leaves for his presentation. Before, he almost didn't make it back to his son. 'Wait, son?'