AN: Note, if you're a Severus fan this is not the fic for you. I really never fully felt for him when Rowling revealed what a "hero" he was in the seventh book because I didn't really think he was a hero. It was his fault for blabbing the prophecy and he went on to pretty much abuse a child because he looked like his father for seven years. I also thought his obsession with Lily was borderline creepy in cannon-though I'll admit I've read a couple of decent Snily fics but they usually have to have lots of groveling and growing up. So if you're a fan of his you're probably not going to be impressed with his view point. On another note happy 2025.

Chapter 23: Reboot

Andi had told him that Harry would be visiting him the next day. With literally less than a day's notice, she probably knew he'd try to find a way out of it. He really had been a rotten father since she had been gone.

He had attempted to mirror call him a couple of times since Andromeda had visited, but neither of them had exactly been the best conversationalist. He knew his son wanted to talk about his mother and he just…just wasn't ready.

He didn't think he'd ever be ready to say goodbye.

He was doing better though. He had started eating his meals again and he wasn't on near as many calming droughts, but the nights were the worst. He had his own nightmares of that place and then he thought about what she had endured in her last few moments.

He blamed himself despite the fact he knew he was not responsible for them throwing Dursley into the cell with her.

Petunia Dursley, his face soured as he thought about the woman that had abused his son and killed his wife. She hoped she'd burned in hell along with her sister.

How weirdly a-like they were.

You wouldn't think so considering at first glance considering that Petunia was an unattractive horse faced muggle while Lily was a very attractive witch, but both of them were hateful bitches at their core that had caused him and his family so much misery.

He needed to get his anger under control before he saw Harry.

"I'm not ready for this," he told Moony who had agreed to be there with him when Harry came.

He was sort of surprised the werewolf had been visiting him so frequently, he hadn't seen him in years. But surprisingly Remus had been a good friend the past few weeks. Not as flighty as he remembered.

It probably helped that life for a werewolf was easier in Switzerland than it was back home. People didn't judge things like that there. He was always surprised with how much liberal the continent was. How many more rights magical creatures and beings seemed to have. Remus's boss seemed to handle his furry little problem okay as well as long as he kept enchanting things the way he had been and stayed away from him and the shop when it was a full moon.

He had done a fantastic job on the mirrors. They were better than the ones James and him had used back in the sixth year for sure and had for sure been helpful the past couple of weeks.

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to do it…"

"It will be fine," Remus said. "Andi and I will both be here if there are issues."

Issues meaning if he lost it which could easily happen. He still had issues regulating his emotions at the best of times, and occasionally he would randomly go catatonic. He didn't trust himself to be around Harry honestly.

But he knew his son needed him. Andromeda had been right the other day when she had talked to him. He still remembered his son's face when he had finally talked to him again. The boy looked almost relieved as if he had thought Sirius abandoned him.

He would never….

Which was one of the reasons he had invited him over here that and Narcissa was dealing with her own son's issues.

Apparently, Draco had been suspended from school for getting into a fight and she didn't want Harry to meet Draco yet with everything that had been going on. Which was one of the reasons he was staying at Andi's for now.

He was surprised when he heard Draco had been suspended. Dumbledore had been such a softie when he had been in school. He probably should've been expelled for what happened to Snape, but he had just gotten off with a slap of the wrist which he mentioned to Cissy when she told him what happened.

"They've changed the rules recently after that unfortunate incident involving Hermione Granger. I don't think the school wants to risk another lawsuit."

He remembered reading about what happened in The Daily Prophet a while back. "I take it she's still in recovery."

"I can't go into particulars," she said which clearly indicated she was one of the girl's healers. "Let's just say it's a big mess and it has brought to light a lot of the problems the school has. And unfortunately, Draco got himself caught in the crosshairs on this. I don't know what I'm going to do with him."

He grimaced. "I was a little shit at that age too. I grew out of it."

"Did you?" She said, "I think it's debatable. Though I guess you'd be a big shit now."

He glared at her.

"I'm kidding. You were never cruel," Narcissa said in a sad tone.

"Uh, don't you remember what I did to Snape?"

"It's not the same thing. Severus provoked you and was a little shit himself—I'll rephrase that is a big shit himself. I think the only reason Lucius tolerates him is because sometimes he'll say a thing or two useful about the school, but I'm digressing. Draco just pokes fun at others. I'm pretty sure he poked fun at Harry, Sirius."

He felt his blood go cold when she said this and wanted to punch the little shit out himself.

"I know," she said looking at him. "I feel the same way…I'm very protective of Harry myself. And I hate feeling this way about my own flesh and blood."

She then told him about the broomstick incident back in the fall. To be fair, it wasn't the worst thing he had ever heard about kids doing, but he could see why Narcissa was concerned and didn't want Draco around Harry yet. He didn't want Harry around Draco.

"I've punished him," she said. "Taken away his broom made sure his professors at school know he's grounded, but still….and now he's suspended."

"It might be what's needed," Sirius stated.

"Well, I can only hope it works, but really, he didn't deserve to be punished for it. The Longbottom boy started the whole thing. He was giddy after…"

She didn't even need to say it. He knew the Longbottom boy was happy that his wife and the mother of his son was dead.

"The floo," Remus said breaking him out of his thoughts as he watched his cousin and his son emerge.

He had seen plenty of pictures of his son and had seen him in the mirror, but it was different seeing him in real life. He was surprised at how small Harry was. Then again, he shouldn't have been. He had read his son's chart. He knew he was still recovering from years of severe malnutrition. Still though, both Bella and him were tall and Harry was so tiny.

"Dad?" He said his grey eyes staring at Sirius.

He had her eyes. He always called them cat eyes. It was so weird seeing them on someone else's face. Though he could see himself in the boy too.

"Harry, it's good to finally see you."

Andromeda Tonks couldn't help but smile a bit as she saw her nephew and cousin interact. Harry needed this she needed this.

"Amazing," She heard Remus Lupin say next to her.

Remus Lupin.

Her patient's long-lost father. She was shocked to see him the other day when she had visited Sirius and realized who she was, she didn't know how or if she even could bring it up to Emma Granger. The woman had been dealing with a lot, but it would be potentially beneficial if Remus was brought into the picture. Especially if the potion regime they were using didn't work and they had to discuss the last resort option.

She shuddered at that option. All of them were hoping the modified wolfsbane worked. And they had made progress on it. Admittedly, very slow progress on it. But she had remained in human form an entire week this time before she was triggered into returning into rat form.

It wasn't exactly surprising that finding out her parents had separated would trigger such a reaction.

She grimaced thinking of the scene she had witnessed.

It was the first time she had ever seen Dan Granger. He hadn't been exactly what Andromeda had been expecting. The complete opposite of Remus Lupin in a lot of ways. Considerably handsomer for one thing, she thought thinking of Dan Granger's very striking features while Remus looked more or less like a librarian. Dan was solidly built like a tank while Remus still was fairly lanky. Probably the lankiest werewolf she ever came across, not that there had been many werewolves she came across. She remembered Emma had mentioned Dan had been in the army at one point. Well, Andromeda believed it. His manner seemed very brusque in general, though he did seem to look at his daughter with concern and tenderness and seemed to be about as disgusted with Emma as the whole thing to the point where he had wanted to pull the girl out of St. Mungo's.

"This is ridiculous," Dan hissed. "They are doing nothing here that she couldn't get treatment for at a normal hospital."

"Dan…"

"She looks fine, Emma, a regular person psychiatrist can help her. You used to agree with me that it was best to stay away from these freaks."

She watched Emma's face twist when Richard said that word. "Don't you dare…"

"I'm not referring to Hermione as freak, I would never…" He said, "You know that. It's just these people. Your people."

"I'm not one of them; we've been through that already."

"You certainly seem chummy with the witch doctors here."

She glared at him. "I am trying to get my daughter adequate care, Dan."

"She's my daughter too," He snapped. "Legally speaking."

"Was that a threat?"

"I'm just pointing out facts." Dan stated, "I have the same rights as you. And I intend on using them to get her out of this bloody mad house. I've put up with this nonsense way too long."

"That is bloody ridiculous don't be daft."

"Oh, you'll think it's bloody ridiculous when you hear from my bloody solicitor you bloody bitch."

There was a gasp and the little girl was no longer a little girl.

Needless to say, it was just chaotic after that.

Emma Granger was a mess the entire night which was something she rarely saw. Usually, the woman was put together, but she seemed rattled after her confrontation with her husband and her daughter's breakdown. Of course, Hermione didn't make things better with Dan as well…

The man completely lost it after he saw his daughter turn into a rat. He kept demanding that they make it right. No matter what they told him, he didn't believe them. Finally, security had to stun the man and obliviate the encounter from his mind. It was all very unpleasant. She really wouldn't be surprised if eventually Hermione's existence was obliviated from his mind since he seemed particularly irritated with magic in general and seemed to want to take the child away from it when she desperately needed to be in a magical environment at this time to survive.

"He's not usually like that," Emma said noticing that she had witnessed it.

Andromeda shrugged. "It's none of my business. I'm sure he's overwhelmed."

"We both are," she said. "The divorce doesn't help."

"Divorce? Is that why he threatened taking custody?"

Emma nodded. "It's been in the cards for a while. We're honestly not that compatible as a couple. Great as business partners. Pretty good as parents, most of the time. This is an exception. But together, not so much. I was hoping Hermione wouldn't hear about the news this way…she was doing so good."

She glanced at the girl, now rat, who was back to chewing the cheese that had been put in her cage. The rat didn't even look at Emma.

They had been debating about whether or not they shouldn't encourage her with putting cheese and corn and other stuff you'd put in a cage for a pet rat, but it wasn't like Hermione realized what was going on when she was in rat form. Chang said she had no memories of it. That the girl just viewed it as floating into the abyss.

Still her body was starting to deal with a weird atrophy side effect where it was starting to become more rat like her uncle's had when had been in rat form for over a decade. Only Hermione had only been a rat—mostly—for a couple of months. It was one of the many reasons the had started giving her potions when she was human to combat her longer teeth and voracious appetite. They were even contemplating about giving her a vision potion as well since her eyes were starting to change as well. It was very concerning all around.

"Don't worry she's been improving." Andromeda said though bit her lip since she felt like she was lying. She wasn't though. A month ago Hermione wouldn't haven't lasted as human for two days.

Emma laughed, "She'll never be able to deal with stress normally again, will she?"

"Are you okay," Her thoughts were brought back to the present as she stared at Remus.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just thinking about a difficult case."

"Ah. Sirius mentioned you're also a healer."

"I am," She said. "I'm the head of pediatrics at St. Mungo's."

"That's how you find out about Harry."

She nodded. "Yes, I was there the night of the accident. It was quite horrible. Harry was lucky unlike that poor boy."

"There was girl there too wasn't there?"

Yes, your daughter. Not that she could tell him that.

Instead she said, "Yes, sweet little girl. Hermione Granger."

He nodded, "Sirius mentioned that she's had it pretty difficult as well. Something about her being attacked around the holidays."

Andromeda nodded as she told him what had happened to her. Remus groaned before he finally said, "I should be surprised, but I'm not. The school wasn't the best about dealing with bullying. Believe me, I know. Is she going to be okay?"

Andromeda sighed, "I'm not allowed to talk about my patients. The mother I believe is suing the school it's been all over the papers."

"Granger? I'm surprised a muggle born is suing."

"Oh, Emma Granger isn't a muggle." Andromeda said. "Her maiden name is Pettigrew. Emma Pettigrew."

"Pettigrew? I didn't think Peter had a sister. A distant relative maybe?"

He was absolutely clueless. Andromeda realized. Remus Lupin had no idea who Emma Granger was, let alone the mother of his child.

Severus Snape frowned as he looked at Lily's sleeping form. He hated dosing her with sleeping potions and now to add to that a paralysis potion to keep her from using her legs, but she was getting too damn curious for her own good. He'd knew at some point he'd have to tell her about Potter's death but right now was not the time.

He knew she was going to demand answers from him sooner than later, but she had been so weak…still was weak. He couldn't have her finding out what was going on just yet. Besides, if she knew she could leave him and he didn't think he'd survive that. He had barely survived the past decade.

It was his fault she had been injured. If only he hadn't told his lord the prophecy then maybe…Potter was dead.

He could be with her.

He always viewed him as the impediment to their relationship, even though he knew it was something else that kept them apart.

Both of them wanted more to life than Cokeworth, and yet that was where both of them were currently. Their purgatory.

Lily certainly didn't belong here. Never had. She was always too beautiful and way too clever. He had always been riding her coattails. He thought with the Dark Lord he might be able to prove himself, somehow to her. But it did the opposite. The work he did he couldn't even tell her about some of it.

Inwardly, he smirked thinking about some of the Potions he developed for the dark lord. Nasty little things. He was pretty sure one of them had been used of Bellatrix Black and made her the twisted devoted loon she had become.

He couldn't help but laugh at that. Lily herself probably would've gotten a kick out. He still remembered the prideful Slytherin who used to look down on him and Lily. All the Black sisters did. The only reason he tolerated that snotty bitch Narcissa was because of Lucius, but Bellatrix was the worse. How the mighty had fallen. He would often be summoned to the Dark Lord when she was performing her services for him.

For some reason, this entertained the Dark Lord greatly and admittedly he found it amusing himself. It made for a pretty good show.

"I could make your mudblood like this," The Dark Lord had told him after he had told him about the prophecy.

"I'm not a filthy mudblood," Lestrange said not comprehending what the Dark Lord had said. She was naked as usual. Save for the dog collar the Dark Lord liked her to wear. It was really fitting for a bitch like Lestrange.

"Don't speak out of turn, pet. Now you'll just have to punish yourself." The Dark Lord said before throwing her off of him as Lestrange grabbed her wand and muttered her favorite curse holding it on herself until she couldn't anymore and collapsed on to the floor and seemed to shake endlessly from the pain.

"I enjoy watching her flinch, oddly enough I get the most pleasure from it." He said to Severus with a smirk, "Think about it. You have time. Until I kill the brat. If you want you can have this one tonight, release some frustration. I got what I wanted from her."

Severus smirked normally he would've been appalled with such an offer but it was Bellatrix Black and he had been waiting so long for Lily. Besides, it wasn't like loon would even remember what he did to her. Not when she was squirming on the floor.

The Dark Lord just laughed not even having to read his mind to know he accepted his offer. "Enjoy, Severus. Maybe there's hope for you after all."

The brat never ended up dying though and Severus never thought about making her take the potion. It would take everything he loved about her away from her. And besides, he didn't want a mindless violent sex drone like the Dark Lord had. Though admittedly, it had been a pretty good romp. Like the Dark Lord he found it weirdly pleasurable hearing Lestrange moan and twitch. But it wasn't the same as Lily.

He wanted Lily.

He frowned thinking of that potion. He probably should've felt bad about it but he didn't. He had spent years perfecting it. He had to work with creeps like Pettigrew just to make sure it worked the way it should be intended. It was like how he didn't feel bad about telling the Dark Lord about the prophecy.

In truth, he could care less about James Potter and his bastard.

He really was glad the boy died. The only reason he even slightly mourned his death was because of her.

They could have their own children though maybe…one day.

If she let him.

He knew she was repulsed by him now. He could see it in her eyes. He didn't know why. He hadn't really changed that much in a decade. He actually thought he looked better. Yes, he was still prone to acne and his hair needed a good washing most of the time, but he was no longer rail thin like in the past. Maybe she sensed his part in this or maybe it was just the fact she felt like he was hiding stuff from her. It would change though. Eventually.

"Sev?"

She was awake.

"Yes,"

"How's Harry?"

Every damn day.

Seriously, without a doubt.

Someday he would tell her, but today would not be the day. Just like someday he'd let her know she had use of her legs again.

Chapter 24 Preview: We have a bit of a time jump someone is moving to their next stage of their healing journey and Sirius has a very special Easter guest.